Retrospective
by Douglas Neman
Summary: Because somebody had to. This story briefly references events in the Earth 2 story "Auryn" by Nicole Mayer, which may no longer be available. It's not a big reference, so it shouldn't hinder your ability to understand this story at all.
1. Chapter 1

Danziger keyed his gear. "Morgan! Lonz! Are you there?" Hiding behind a large moss-covered rock, he risked a quick peek up the forested mountainside, making sure his magpro was ready. He couldn't see any movement in the falling light, but that didn't mean Paul wasn't up there. His gear beeped and Alonzo's voice came back.

"Yeah, what's up?" the pilot asked.

"Encrypt," Danziger said.

Alonzo traded a confused look with Morgan, who was kneeling a few feet away by a perimeter monitor they'd just installed, but Alonzo pressed a few buttons on his gear, setting it to an encryption pattern the Edenites had worked out months ago for use in emergencies. Morgan did the same. "Encrypted," Alonzo said. "What's going on?"

"Trouble. We had a Council goon on the colony ship. We caught him sabotaging the comm dish, but he shot at some people and ran. We're after him. Where are you?"

Morgan slowly stood up, his eyes wide. Alonzo just looked grim. "About two klicks from New Pacifica," he answered. "Grid reference…" he snapped his fingers at Morgan, who hurriedly unfolded their map.

"Nine-oh-five northeast," Morgan said. "Danziger, where is this guy? Who is he?"

"Hang on," Danziger said, glancing at Devon and Baines. He didn't like having Devon along for a possible firefight, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. She'd been with him when Paul had opened fire on some of the newly-arrived colonists and stolen the data chips, and she had rushed into action by his side without a second thought. Now she stood behind a tree holding a pistol. At least she'd learned how to use it during their cross-planet hike, he thought grimly. "Where is he now?" he asked.

Zero's head, slung onto Baines's back, said, "Paul Baxter is currently 150 meters distant and still moving quickly up the mountain. The chances of us overtaking him on foot are very low."

"Let's go!" Danziger said, leading the way up the mountain again. The others followed.

"Did you guys get that?" Baines asked over his gear.

"Up…the mountain…" Morgan said, thinking about Zero's words. "You mean…up _this_ mountain?" He gulped. "The one we're standing on?"

"Paul Baxter is headed in your general direction," Zero replied calmly. "I have traced your signal, and he will miss you by about 50 meters if he continues on his present course."

"Are you guys armed?" Danziger asked.

"We have one pistol and a flare gun," Alonzo answered.

"Morgan, Alonzo," Devon said, "is there any way you can help us? Can you stop Paul, or at least slow him down? You're above him and he probably doesn't know you're there."

"We'll do our best," Alonzo said, cutting off Morgan's wide-eyed protestation. "Just give us the reference, Zero."

"Just be careful," Danziger said. "Paul's got a gun. I don't know what kind."

Alonzo and Morgan got the directions from Zero and ran downhill as fast as they could, hoping to find a spot from which they could ambush the Councilman. The sun dipped near the horizon as they went, its final whispers of daylight filtering through the treetops.

Since the forest wasn't thick they made good time, and they soon reached the top of a natural rock wall about four meters high. It continued to their right as far as they could see, but to their left the wall jutted out sharply into an outcropping which was just barely beginning to break up into cracked, moss-covered boulders. The wall presumably continued on its other side, although they couldn't see. Immediately below the wall the trees were more scarce than usual.

They lay flat and looked down into the forest. Even with encryption, they didn't dare use their gear until they felt they had to, knowing that Zero would have warned them if Paul's course had changed.

As he slowly craned his neck over the wall, Morgan caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. He did a tiny double-take and found himself staring at a bird about a meter below and slightly to his right, calmly sitting in a nest perched on a small shelf. It stared back as if to say, "What the heck are you doing up there?"

The bird was bright red with a yellow crest. Its head tilted from side to side in quick, jerking movements, but its gaze didn't falter. Morgan stared back for a few seconds, then finally blinked. The bird did a little jump and shrug of its wings, as if to say, "Hmmph. What is the world coming to?" It tried to turn its attention to more interesting things, but it had to look back at Morgan a second later, as if to reassure itself that yes, the strange creature was still there.

Alonzo nudged Morgan and nodded below. Morgan looked to where he was indicating and saw the figure. He had blonde hair and wore a tan coat and what looked like a heavy, bulging backpack. He was climbing the hillside with great speed and strength despite his wiry frame, causing Alonzo to wonder if he had been cybernetically enhanced. If he was a Council agent, it was almost a certainty.

Alonzo nodded to Morgan and closed his eyes. With a sigh of apology to the bird, Morgan aimed the flare gun at a spot directly in front of Paul, closed his own eyes and fired.

The flare hit almost perfectly, exploding a few meters in front of Paul and blinding him. He snarled and shielded his eyes with his arm, but by then it was too late.

Alonzo fired the pistol off to one side and shouted, "We have you surrounded! Stop or we'll open fire!" It wasn't exactly the truth, but he hoped it would work. He couldn't bring himself to shoot the man without warning, no matter what he'd done.

Baines, Devon and Danziger saw the flare's glow and heard the shot further down the mountain, along with the squawking of a bird who sounded furious. Although they were breathing hard, they pressed on.

Paul bared his teeth, and in the dying light of the flare Alonzo honestly couldn't tell if he was grimacing or smiling. Either way, it was creepy.

"You lying!" Paul yelled and ran blindly to his right.

"Damn!" Alonzo muttered, wishing it hadn't come to this. He'd never killed a man before, and didn't want to now. But there were no police or tracker patrols on G889. Their only protection was themselves, and if Paul got away now, there was no telling what else he would do.

Hoping for a wounding shot, Alonzo took a deep breath, aimed and fired three times. All came close but missed. Paul cackled gleefully, as if he were playing a game, then disappeared behind the section of the wall which jutted out, forming the outcropping of rock.

"Danziger, we missed him," Alonzo said. "But I think we slowed him down. We tried to blind him, but he may have cybernetics in his eyes to help him see."

 _Squawk!_ came an angry screech from the air above.

"Where is he now?" was Danziger's panting reply.

"He ran off to the left," Alonzo answered.

"Your left?" Danziger asked.

"Uh…yeah. Our left, your right. We can't see him."

Morgan spit out a red feather and said, "I'll go check. He'll be expecting us to chase him, so he may double back this way to throw us off. You stay here in case he does." He stood up and advanced along the top of the wall in the direction Paul had run, picking his way carefully along the plants and moss-covered rocks. Alonzo quickly lost sight of him.

 _Squawk!_ came another angry screech from above.

Holding the flare gun out in front of him and gulping back his fear with wide eyes, Morgan slowly made his way to the other side of the outcropping and found that the wall returned almost immediately to continue its otherwise unbroken course. Morgan thought about walking out onto the outcropping, but killed the thought quickly. Although the rocks themselves still looked solid, he now saw that the outcropping was much more narrow than it seemed at first, and he wasn't going out there. He took another step along the top of the wall, peering below for any sign of Paul.

In the dim light, Morgan was lucky to see the movement of the tan jacket when he did. He jerked back in surprise just before the flash came from Paul's pistol and the _crack_ of a bullet hitting the rocks behind him resounded in his ears.

In shock and surprise, Morgan lost his balance and fell.

Luckily, he was still standing next to the point where the wall bulged into the outcropping, so he fell into the v-shaped corner where the two merged. "Oh no please don't let me die!" Morgan said over and over as he dropped the flare gun and grabbed whatever hold he could while sliding gracelessly to the bottom.

Above, Alonzo was already scrambling his way to help, but he couldn't see Morgan.

"Lonz, what's going on?" Danziger asked.

Morgan, cut and bruised but grateful to be alive, lifted his head only to find Paul charging at him with a banshee shriek, and the Council agent seemed to be enjoying himself. Wondering if that was why Paul wasn't using his gun, Morgan desperately braced himself for a fight since there was nowhere to run. But before Paul could close with him, he suddenly stopped and darted to one side to avoid Alonzo's shot, which almost hit him. Paul rolled into a crouch and fired back. His shot hit Alonzo's gun, which spun off into the darkness, but Paul wasn't able to keep firing as he almost lost his balance and had to spend a few precious seconds regaining it.

The red bird flapped down from the sky and landed on the top branch of a small tree, still squawking angrily about the disturbance. Morgan subconsciously registered the bird's presence, but at the moment it was the furthest thing from his mind. He had already seen that Paul was going to keep on firing at Alonzo until he was either out of bullets or his prey was dead, so even as Paul was regaining his footing, Morgan rushed forward, thinking all the while, _I can't believe I'm doing this please don't let me die!_

His charge wasn't graceful. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see what he was doing, spread both arms wide, yelled in desperation and ran at Paul, who was taken more by surprise than anything. The two went down in a tangled heap and wrestled – the Councilman with ferocity, Morgan with life-threatening desperation. The bird squawked some more.

Alonzo, knowing that Morgan would need help immediately, took a deep breath and jumped off the wall. He hit the ground hard and the shock tore through both his legs. With his face screwed up in agony, he rushed to join the fray.

Paul fought like a wild man, eventually getting under both Morgan and Alonzo and throwing them off with seemingly impossible strength. They went flying back towards the point at which the rock wall met the outcropping, where Morgan had fallen earlier. The only good thing that had come of their fight was that Paul had lost his own gun in the scuffle.

But the Councilman just giggled. He reached into his pack, his hands moving very quickly and precisely, and pulled out a silver rod. He jammed it hard into the ground and yelled, "Go!" Then he ran off into the night.

A polite, feminine computer voice calmly announced, "Order acknowledged. Preset zone size 50 meters, preset countdown one second. Commencing countdown, commencing geolock."

A loud grating noise and an expanding circle of blue energy erupted from the rod, crawling over the ground.

Morgan and Alonzo were just helping each other up when it happened, and at first they could only stare in horror as the petrifying energy swept towards them. It was like a nightmare. They turned to run, only to find themselves facing the rock wall and nowhere to go. They spun around helplessly, looking for a way out.

Morgan found himself looking at the bird, who squawked one last time and took off into the air as the petrification quickly rose up the tree like a vengeful blue ghost. He watched the bird go, and for once he was jealous of the animals.

"Morgan, climb!" Alonzo yelled.

"We can't-"

"Trust me! Just climb!" Alonzo shouted and the two men climbed up the rock wall as quickly as they could. They both knew they couldn't possibly climb faster than the geolock could work.

The expanding circle met the wall when they were almost two meters up. "Wait," Alonzo said. He and Morgan clung to the wall and watched the line creep towards their feet. When it was about halfway between them and the ground, Alonzo yelled, "All right, jump!"

He and Morgan pushed off the wall, leaping over the line of energy and onto the petrified earth inside the circle. Morgan cried out as he landed and clutched his ankle.

They lay gasping for breath and grimacing in pain, watching the blue arc continue away from them. The sound stopped after about ten more seconds. Neither of them moved.

Moments later, they heard several sets of running footsteps _clop-clopping_ over the hardened ground. "Alonzo! Morgan!" Devon shouted. "Oh my God, are you guys all right?" She shone a lumalight on the two men's faces, causing their eyes to screw up briefly. They were covered with dirt, cuts and bruises.

Morgan nudged Alonzo with an elbow without letting go of his foot. "She wants to know if we're okay," he said.

Alonzo grimaced and tried to sit up. "No," he said. "We just got our butts kicked. Who _is_ this guy?"

Devon, Baines and Danziger all slumped to the ground beside Morgan and Alonzo. They were gasping for breath after their forced run up the mountain.

"We don't know," Danziger said, gulping for air. "We don't know what he was trying to do with the comm dish. I mean, it makes life easier, but we could survive without it."

"He must have a plan of some kind," Devon said. "He certainly acts like he knows where he's going."

"He's also stronger than he looks," Morgan said.

"Zero, where is he now?" Danziger asked.

"East by southeast, 120 meters and extending," Zero replied.

They all looked at each other, still breathing hard. "We have to go after him," Devon said. "We don't have a choice."

No one moved. Their chests heaved in and out.

"Can't do it, Devon," Danziger said. His legs were almost shaking with fatigue.

"Morgan and I'll go after him," Alonzo said, standing up.

"I can't," Morgan said through gritted teeth. "I twisted or sprained my ankle."

"We're not gonna let Alonzo go alone, are we?" Baines asked.

"No," Devon shook her head, admitting defeat. "No, we weren't prepared. Paul's obviously got more weapons in his pack, and even if we caught up with him we'd be no match for him once we got there."

Danziger keyed his gear. "Julia, we're gonna need your help."

"Is everyone all right?" Julia asked, and the tension on her face spoke volumes. Danziger realized that his statement must have sounded to her as if someone was in mortal peril. He hadn't considered the fact that Julia would be beside herself with worry.

"We're fine, we're all alive," he said. "Paul got away and Morgan sprained his ankle. We can help him down, but if you can meet us halfway in the rail, that'd be great."

"Why didn't you guys just come up in the rail in the first place?" Alonzo asked Devon, letting Danziger continue to speak with Julia.

"Mazatl and Magus had it out hauling supplies," Devon replied. "We couldn't wait for them to get back."

"John," Julia continued, "Cameron and Walman are already on their way with the rail." Even as she spoke she pressed a few buttons on her own gear. "Cameron and Walman, you're on. Danziger, give them your position."

"Eight-two-five northeast," Danziger answered. "You guys armed?"

"Two magpros," Cameron said. "We should be with you in about two minutes."

"Did Paul exhibit any strange behavior?" Julia asked.

"Other than trying to kill us?" Morgan asked incredulously.

"Yes, other than that."

They all looked at each other, and Alonzo shrugged. "He acted like he was high on a drug or something. He laughed when I shot at him, and he laughed again when he tried to kill us."

"Are you on to something, Julia?" Devon asked.

"I thought Paul's behavior was strange, also, based on his actions here in New Pacifica," Julia replied. "So I analyzed skin cells taken from some of the objects that Paul touched recently. They show clear indications of the Immortality Disease."

Alonzo whistled appreciatively, but the others just looked confused. "What's that?" Danziger asked.

"The Immortality Disease is a type of cold sleep sickness, a different type than what Elizabeth and Franklin came down with," Julia said. "It was the first type of cold sleep sickness we ever knew about. The first generation of people who put themselves into cold sleep did so because they wanted to live longer, not because they were traveling anywhere. They were people who wanted to be immortal. So when they came down with this disease, it was called the Immortality Disease. Its official name is something that even I have a hard time pronouncing."

"What does it do?" Devon asked.

"It warps people's brain cells and makes them insane," Alonzo said. "Basically."

"That about sums it up," Julia agreed. "Our cryosleep technology is so advanced that it's almost unheard of nowadays, but it still affects about one out of every 100,000 sleep jumpers. Without exception, every recorded case of the Immortality Disease caused total loss of perspective and connections to reality, and the person became violent. They had delusions of grandeur and the selfishness and uncaring of a child. It's considered incurable."

"Could it give someone extra strength?" Morgan asked thoughtfully.

Julia shrugged. "I honestly don't know, Morgan. I don't believe so, but I wouldn't rule it out."

"So Paul isn't a Council agent," Danziger said. "We just assumed he was when he attacked us. He's just lost it."

"I'm not so sure," Julia said. "I ran a standard physical for everyone on the colony ship when they got here, including a test for any cryogenic-related illnesses, and Paul's turned up fine. I double-checked that test, and it seems that he intentionally substituted a fake cell sample, using some pretty sophisticated equipment. I'm sorry to say that I recognize the procedure. The DNA of the fake cell was of such a construction that it just screams that it was made in a laboratory somewhere, almost like a signature. It could only be Council."

"Damn!" Danziger said.

"But why would he have some cell-faking equipment if he didn't know he'd need it?" Baines asked. "Unless he _planned_ on becoming insane?"

"That kind of equipment is actually pretty standard," Julia said. "It's small and implanted inside the body. I'm sure the Council didn't expect Paul to develop the Immortality Disease, but once he did, he used his Council equipment to cover it up."

"Wait a minute," Danziger said, finally getting his breathing back. "Are you saying that Paul _knows_ he's got this disease? That he knows he's insane?"

Julia sighed. "It's hard to say. On some level, he's probably aware that he's not acting rationally. He certainly knows enough about his new condition to hide it. It hasn't dampened his sense of self-preservation."

"Julia, you said this disease was rare," Morgan said. "I'd think it was a hell of a coincidence if a Council agent planted on the colony ship should turn out to be the one person in 100,000 who went nuts. I could swear Paul was cybernetically enhanced somehow. Could the Council messing around with his mind and body have made him susceptible to this disease?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Julia said. The dunerail appeared through the trees and headed towards them, headlights cutting through the gloom. "It would certainly explain things, unless you believe in huge coincidences. But again, I don't know. I'd have to examine Paul personally to tell you that." The dunerail came to a halt beside the five people on the ground, Walman and Cameron staring at the geolocked earth around them in wonder and horror. As they did, Julia continued.

"If Paul is a Council agent, I can assure you that he had an agenda of some kind by coming here," she said. "The Immortality Disease may have made him insane, but he will still have the same goals as when he left the stations. His insanity may have warped those goals so that he will interpret them in a different way, or he may be willing to achieve them in a way that's more ruthless than if he were sane. But the basic knowledge and drive, whatever made up the person who is Paul Baxter, is still there. It's just been twisted beyond recognition."

"Great," Danziger said, and stood up. He had just barely gotten his strength back. "Walman, Alonzo, we'll take the rail after Paul. The rest of you get Morgan back to town." He motioned for Baines to hand the net which contained Zero's head to Alonzo.

"I don't think so," Devon said, climbing into the dunerail's front passenger seat.

"Devon, we don't have time to argue!" Danziger snapped.

"So let's get going," she said evenly.

He sighed and sat behind the wheel. Walman and Alonzo climbed into the back, pretending they hadn't heard the exchange. Devon and Danziger's legendary head-butting had ceased to be entertaining long ago. Everyone who had been with Eden Advance just accepted it as the natural way of things and tuned it out.

Glaring, Danziger sped the rail forward, leaving Baines and Cameron to support Morgan back to New Pacifica.

"Where do you think Paul's heading?" Devon asked.

"I don't care," Danziger replied. "I'm more interested in what he's doing."

"But don't you think that if we knew where he was headed, we might have a clue about what his intentions are?" Devon asked.

"I don't think he's headed anywhere," Danziger replied testily. "I think he's just running."

"No," Devon shook her head. "He's got a plan."

Zero spoke up. "Paul Baxter seems to be making his way toward the nexus cave we discovered 37 days ago."

"Oh, no," Devon groaned. "This can't get any worse!"

G889 was filled with many wonders, but the greatest which Eden Advance had discovered was that of the nexus caves – rare focal points around the planet which contained teleporting spider webs, sunstones and sleeping Terrians, all three. These special nexus points were powerful enough to send a person through both space and time, if he or she were so inclined. They were dangerous places which the Terrians guarded ferociously. Eden Advance had actually been called upon once before to travel through them, and that had only been for a world-shattering emergency. (And Devon had once heard Danziger make some cryptic remark about living a double-lifetime back on the stations. He had uneasily passed it off as a joke when pressed for an explanation, but she wasn't so sure. He wasn't the sort to tell jokes like that.)

They had found the nexus cave about seven weeks ago while exploring around New Pacifica, and Devon still wasn't sure if she was happy about that or not. If another emergency ever happened, she supposed it was good that it was close by. But the nexus points were the equivalent of quantum weapons, as far as she was concerned – so dangerous that the thought of them falling into the wrong hands was horrifying beyond words.

And Paul was headed straight for it.

"What's the problem?" Danziger asked, responding to Devon's groan of despair. "If Paul's heading for the nexus, the Terrians will make short work of him. If not, it's no big deal."

Devon shook her head. "My gut tells me this is all wrong. Paul's too intelligent and too prepared. He'll be ready."

"How could he know about the nexus?" Walman asked. "We haven't told any of the colonists about it, and they only got here about eight days ago."

"He must have broken into our logs," Alonzo said. "If he was Council, that would be the first thing he'd do."

"Where is he now?" Walman asked.

"We are gaining on him," Zero answered. "Eighty meters and closing. But Paul's course is still headed directly for the cave. He will reach it before we can catch up to him."

"Geeze, how fast is this guy running?" Walman asked.

"An average of 3.872 kilometers per hour for over 45 minutes, most of that up a steep hill," Zero replied. "He is traveling about twice that speed now. This is well beyond the accepted limits of human endurance."

"We're not going to get there in time!" Devon said.

"But we can tell the Terrians what's coming," Alonzo said. He closed his eyes and entered the dream plane for several seconds. Then he opened his eyes and said, "They know he's coming. They also know about the geolock he set off, and they're pretty perturbed."

"Good," Danziger said, struggling to get the dunerail around a nasty-looking rock. "Then they'll take care of him for us. Like I said."

"Uh…maybe," Alonzo replied. "You see, they sort of hold us responsible for the geolock."

"What?" Walman exclaimed. "Why?"

Alonzo scratched the back of his neck with embarrassment. "Well, first of all, there was Devon's promise to them that it wouldn't happen again…"

Devon sighed, closed her eyes and let her head fall back.

"What was that you said about not getting any worse?" Danziger asked.

"And second," Alonzo continued, "the Terrians have grown to trust us. They've come to some kind of decision that we are custodians of the human side of G889. I think it's because we've earned their trust, and because Devon's the mother of Ulysses."

"You mean they're going to hold Devon responsible for everything that every human on the planet does?" Danziger asked incredulously.

"No," Alonzo replied.

"Good," Danziger said.

"They're going to hold _Eden Advance_ responsible. The fifteen of us who survived the hike across the continent. They've decided that it's our job to keep the other humans in line."

There was silence in the dunerail for a moment.

"Oh," Danziger said quietly.

"Great," Walman said.

"Lovely," Devon whispered.

"We are nearing the nexus cave," Zero said happily, oblivious to the sudden despair in the vehicle. "Paul has gone inside."

"Can you tell what's happening in there?" Danziger asked, bringing the rail to a skidding halt outside the cave. No Terrians were visible.

"My sensors will not read inside the cavern," Zero said. "There are too many energy patterns."

"Let's send one person in quietly-" Devon began.

"No time for subtleties," Danziger said, grabbing a magpro and heading for the cave. "If the Terrians beat Paul, we'll be okay. If Paul's doing something to the Terrians then we don't have any time to lose."

The other three ran into the cave behind Danziger, with no other plan of action than to see what was going on and deal with it. Devon held her pistol, the other three had magpros. Zero's head was still slung in the net over Alonzo's shoulder.

The large cavern was lit with the criss-cross traceries of sunstones, and hot. Spider webs hung at the far end. Paul, standing in the center of the cavern, turned to face them when they entered. He held some bones in one hand. Terrians surrounded him, trilling at him furiously, but none attacked.

Danziger sighed. "He did read our logs."

"And he was prepared," Devon said, glancing for just a split second at Danziger, unable even now to resist the "I-told-you-so" barb.

Danziger ignored it, saying instead, "Give it up, Paul. You don't have anywhere to go."

Paul's face broke into an amazed, cracked grin, then he snickered. An energy burst from the spider webs came and went behind him. "Got lots of places to go," he said. "Come with? I wanna see you disappear!"

"I got a better idea," Danziger replied.

The tiny movement with the magpro, Danziger's finger tightening on the trigger, told Paul all he needed to know. With a motion that was almost a blur, Paul grabbed one of the Terrians and held him viciously in front of himself.

Danziger didn't fire.

He was amazed at the swiftness with which Paul could move, and disconcerted that a Terrian was now in danger. Eighteen months ago he wouldn't have given a toss about the creature, but now he sweated. He should have fired when they'd first entered, he told himself. But he'd just had to be nice and give the guy a chance to turn himself in, and now look at the mess they were in. Paul was at least 15 meters away, and none of them were good enough of a shot to ensure hitting Paul without hitting the Terrian.

But even as Danziger reprimanded himself, he knew that he would do the same if given another chance. His spirit wasn't wired any other way, and shooting first without questioning was a trait that made up people like Paul.

"I would have fired by now," Paul gloated, in a voice that was mocking, the sort of voice a six-year-old would use. "You actually care about these filthy things. I knew it when I read your logs." He giggled. "I knew it. I knew it."

The four Edenites slowly fanned into the cavern, but Paul reached back and rummaged in his pack with his free hand even as he backed toward the spider webs. Another burst came and went. Then he reached up and put a metal collar around the Terrian's neck.

"Where did you get that?" Devon asked hotly.

"From you!" Paul cackled, reaching back into his pack again. He sighed theatrically. "Since you had them in your possession, I figured you used them." Then his eyes grew big as he mocked them some more. "For what delicious purposes, I could not possibly guess!" His hand came out of his pack with a gear set, and he put it on.

"We took the shock collars from a penal colonist to prevent them falling into anyone else's hands," Danziger said. "We were going to destroy them completely as soon as we could. We destroyed the controller, but the collars are too strong for us to smash apart and we can't get at the circuitry inside."

"Suuuuuuuuuuure," Paul said. "A likely story. How loud does Devon scream when you use them on her late at night, _Mr._ Danziger?"

The boom of the magpro echoed like thunder in the cavern, the shot hitting the far wall and burrowing a hole into the rock.

"I only have so much patience," Danziger said through gritted teeth. "And hostage or not, you need to surrender now or the next shot goes right through you."

Paul's reply was a whispered word into his gear. "Charge," he said.

His Terrian hostage arched his back and trilled in pain as the electricity coursed through his body. It lasted a few seconds, and the four Edenites grimaced in disgust. Paul had somehow found the frequency for the shock collar.

"The rest of you dirtbags need to protect me from them!" Paul shouted, pointing. "If they try to hurt me, your friend dies!" The Terrians hesitated, so Paul shouted it again, sending anther charge through the Terrian for effect.

Slowly, reluctantly, the remaining Terrians in the cavern turned to face the Edenites, staffs charging up.

"What are they doing?" Walman shouted madly. "Alonzo, tell 'em to stop!" But Alonzo seemed too stunned to answer.

The Terrians didn't fire, but they formed a protective line between the Edenites and their quarry. Paul just giggled and headed for the spider webs, taking his captive with him.

Walman decided he'd had enough. He could barely see Paul through the Terrians, and he didn't even pretend to understand the nexus points, but he knew enough to know that Paul stepping into one was not a good thing. Most of the Terrians were focused on Danziger because he had fired once already, so Walman aimed his magpro at the ceiling above Paul and fired.

Lightning sprang from the staff of the Terrian nearest Walman. It wasn't a burst of energy, it was just a thin stretch of electricity, similar to what they had used against Devon and Danziger on the way to the lake that day long ago when they had been searching for water. Walman fought it for a second, but slowly slipped to the ground.

No one noticed him, though, because he'd been effective. Part of the ceiling had collapsed on Paul almost immediately, sending him and his captive to the ground, and Danziger, Devon and Alonzo had sprung into action.

Danziger barreled through the Terrian line, catching them off guard, for their attention had suddenly been on Walman, and he raced for Paul, who was quickly getting up. Paul had already given the "Charge" command to the shock collar, and his captive was writhing in pain.

Danziger caught Paul squarely with a hard right cross. Paul took it, snarled, and the two of them went down, grappling ferociously. Danziger's magpro skittered across the floor.

The other Terrians in the cave advanced on Devon and Alonzo, but not enthusiastically. They were evidently confused, unable to bring harm to their companion, yet acting fully against their natures.

"Let us through!" Alonzo pleaded with them, trying to tell them with words and dreams at the same time. He was quite good at dreaming by now, feeling the dream plane at the edges of his senses almost all the time. "We can help your friend if you let us through!"

The Terrians hesitated, then parted gratefully. Alonzo realized that, faced with humans fighting humans, the Terrians were dealing with a situation which baffled them as completely as the Terrians themselves had baffled the Edenites when they had first met.

They rushed to help Danziger. Paul, noticing them approaching, shoved Danziger towards them with a yell. He succeeded in hitting Alonzo, who tried his best to catch Danziger, but Devon avoided the human-turned-missile and kept coming. When she was ten meters away, she raised her pistol.

Paul bobbed and weaved with a dazzling display of agility, advancing on her at the same time. Devon shot and missed twice, then Paul grabbed her savagely and held her in front of him like a shield. "Charge!" he yelled into his gear set with venom. The Terrian with the shock collar, slowly standing up, suffered again.

Danziger and Alonzo picked themselves up off the ground. Paul again had a captive, but this time it was Devon, her arm twisted behind her. "No more!" Paul said, his eyes wide, almost breaking into another grin. "No more of this. It's not right. _You're_ not right. But I'll make it right." He was almost to the spider webs.

But Devon had been the child of billionaires. Since people with such wealth were often targets, she had been trained in self-defense as a child. She twisted in a move which Paul hadn't anticipated, spun, dropped, and slammed the open palm of her hand into Paul's crotch. He screamed.

"Go!" Danziger shouted, and he and Alonzo rushed Paul yet again, Alonzo dropping the magpro to free his hands for the close combat. Everyone yelled, fists went flying, bodies wrestled. It was as if there were four Pauls instead of one. The Terrian with the shock collar was caught up in the battle. Together, as one flailing mass of bodies, they tilted and cartwheeled toward the spider webs.

The energy reached out to greet them with open arms.

 _Bright._ That's all Danziger knew next. Bright and hot. Grass beneath his feet. Just when he opened his mouth to ask where he was, something slammed him hard on the side of his head, and the grass was in his face as his brain tried desperately to catch up with reality. He heard someone giggling, more fighting, a Terrian trilling sadly, desperately. A pistol went off.

 _Devon._

He couldn't open his eyes. He had somehow gone from a dimly-lit cave to dazzling bright afternoon sunshine, and the light was searing into his brain. "Devon?" he asked weakly. "Lonz?"

Shielding his eyes from the sun, he forced them to open as best he could. He _had_ to know what was happening.

Alonzo was lying next to him, his eyes screwed shut also. Above him stood a figure which looked vaguely like Devon – it was hard to tell through the tears. She was in a firing stance, except for the fact that one hand was shielding the sun from her eyes. Her other hand bucked once and another pistol shot sounded. Then she fell to her knees beside him, tears running down her face.

He closed his own eyes again. The bright light was making them water so much it was excruciating. "What happened," he asked.

"Paul got away," Devon said. "He's still got the Terrian with him."

"It was a good thing you kept your senses and kept firing," Danziger said weakly. "We can't see. He could have killed us all while we're blinded like this."

"He was blinded, too, at least a little bit," Devon said. "And I think we wounded him. He didn't have what it took to finish us off."

"He might still come back," Alonzo said, slowly sitting up.

"I will warn you if he does," came Zero's calm voice. The robot's head was still in the net bag on Alonzo's back. "The sudden transition from darkness to light does not affect me."

Blinking rapidly, the three of them began to take in their surroundings. "Anyone know where we are?" Danziger asked.

"Not a clue," Alonzo said. "But this doesn't look good."

None of them needed to say it out loud. They could have traveled in both space and time. If they only traveled in space, then they were on the other side of the planet, thousands of kilometers from New Pacifica. If they had traveled in time as well…

They slowly stood up, letting their eyes adjust to the light, feeling fatigue and hopelessness. Before them was a rolling green pasture, interrupted only by a creek lined with trees. A bird called far overhead. Some of the equipment from Paul's pack, which had split open during the fight, lay scattered around them. Just as they began to bend down to examine it, a peculiar sound came from behind them.

 _WhhhhhHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooosssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh._

They all stopped and looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes.

"What was that?" Alonzo asked.

Zero, on Alonzo's back, was the only one looking in that direction. "I really think you should see this," the robot said.

The sound came again, more quickly this time, but not louder.

 _WhhHHOOOOOOOOOOooooosssssssshhhhhhhh._

They slowly turned. Along a rise about 30 meters away was a straight line of dark pavement, bordered by a low fence of barbed wire. As they watched, a very, very old-fashioned automobile – the kind that ran on gasoline – came zipping along the pavement.

 _WhhhhHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooosssssssssshhhhhhhhhh._

Further along the road – for that was clearly what it was – was a green rectangular sign. Danziger hurriedly groped for his jumpers, but they weren't on him. "Zero," he said, his voice quavering with absolute, utter dread. "What does that sign say?"

Zero calmly read the damning, unbelievable words. "The sign says, 'Santa Fe 4 Miles.'"

"Oh, my God," Devon whispered. "We're…we're…" She couldn't bring herself to say it.

Danziger summed it up for them. "We're in trouble," he said quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Any mistakes regarding the geography, laws, culture, or landscape of Santa Fe, New Mexico is the result of the author paying absolutely no attention to the area when he was there, because when he was there he didn't know he was going to write a story about it someday. But that's life, this is his lame excuse, so deal with it.

* * *

Paul staggered across the bright landscape, clutching his side, roughly dragging the hapless Terrian behind him and yelling at no one in particular. "Bitch! That bitch! That bitch shot me!"

The truth was that not only had Devon's first shot after coming through the nexus hit him (which was why he had run, he told himself), he was also exhausted. Damn those colonists! he thought bitterly. They were supposed to be a bunch of dumb yokels! He was Paul Baxter! Council agent with a big red "C" on his chest, super strong, super fast and el braino supremo. What the _hell_ were they doing catching up with him like that? First they ambushed him near the top of the mountain. (Attacked by a pilot and a _bureaucrat_ , no less! It was insulting!) Then they caught up with him at the cave, and then they actually followed him through to Earth! It wasn't fair, he thought sulkily. It wasn't supposed to have been like that.

Still, he thought, maybe he'd be lucky and he would get to see the colonists disappear in front of his eyes when he did the deed. Ha! Wouldn't that be something? That would teach that bitch to shoot at Paul Baxter.

After running a mile in ten minutes, he reached a ditch and gratefully collapsed into it before he even knew what he was doing. Boy, it was hot! He started to shrug off his pack, wincing at the pain in his side, and only then did he register the constant trilling and whining of that disgusting creature he'd put the shock collar on. He had only dimly been aware of _literally_ dragging the Terrian by the arm behind him.

The Terrian looked to be in a really bad way.

He let it go and reached for his pistol, then remembered he'd lost it fighting the pilot and the bureaucrat. (The thought was embarrassing and filled him with shame. He would never tell anyone about that.) "Well, you sorry excuse for a person," Paul said to the Terrian, which was moaning away pitifully. "I can't kill you straight out, so I'm going to have to do this the hard way. Charge."

He gingerly shrugged off his jacket and calmly thought about what his next move should be while the Terrian suffered, noting that Devon's shot had torn open his pack and some of his belongings had been lost. He would have to deal with that. He repeated the command twice more, fully intent on killing the Terrian as soon as possible, and then a thought occurred to him.

What would he do when all this was over?

He was so surprised at his lack of foresight that he even forgot about the Terrian, giving it a slight reprieve. It had quite simply never occurred to him to wonder about what the rest of his life would be like, trapped on old Earth. He would have to do something, find some way to live the rest of his life in luxury (and he knew where to go to avoid the coming wars), content with the knowledge that he had done his duty.

He looked at the Terrian and had a brainstorm. He smiled. "Well, my disgusting little freak show, I have a use for you. Yes, I know it's hard to believe that someone as ugly and as worthless as you could have a use, but the universe is full of surprises. I wonder how much the science boys of this backward age would pay me to get their hands on you. Huh?" He smiled. "Yeah, but I don't have time for that right now, and I can't have your corpse rotting away before I can sell ya. So…damn, I gotta keep you alive. Oh, well. Them's the breaks. Charge."

The Terrian suffered again.

* * *

John Danziger, Devon Adair and Alonzo Solace slowly sat down on the grass, looking at each other in horror. "We're on Earth," Devon whispered.

"Yeah," Danziger said, looking again at the road as if it were a snake about to leap across the distance and bite him if he stared at it too closely. "Some time in the past, by the look of things."

Several more cars sped along the highway. None of the occupants seemed to be paying them any attention. "I can't place the period," Alonzo said, trying to keep a level head as best as he could. He was madly, desperately trying not to think about the horror of being stranded here, hundreds of years in the past. "The cars…I suppose if we knew when cars like that were made, we'd know when we are?"

Danziger shrugged and shook his head. "All those old gas-guzzlers had so many styles, and I'm no history buff. I couldn't tell you when we are."

"All right, let's approach this rationally," Devon said, trying to take command of the situation, and wondering how Danziger could remain so calm. But it was obvious that she was out of her depth. Her voice was shaking.

Looking at her, Danziger realized that she was feeling the shock now, whereas he and Alonzo would probably feel it more later, Alonzo especially. Right now, it just seemed so surreal.

"Our first objective is to go after Paul," Devon continued.

"Our first objective is to survive," Danziger corrected her.

"Paul has had a plan every step of the way," Devon argued. "Remember what we know about the nexus caves: they take you wherever you think of going. Were any of us thinking of old Earth when we were fighting Paul? I know I wasn't."

The other two shook their heads.

"So it must have been Paul who was thinking it. We're here because of him. Every single thing Paul did was with a purpose, and he has led us here. For whatever reason he wanted to come here, he has a plan, and that makes him dangerous. We have to find him." Then she took a deep breath and said the one unpleasant thing which they all needed to hear. "Even if it means we can never get back, our only objective for now is to stop him."

"But how are we going to do that?" Alonzo asked. "We don't know anything about where we are, or how to live. We don't have any of the money they used in this time, we don't have any friends, or any food, or any shelter, and no way of getting information." _And no way of getting back!_ his mind screamed at him. He couldn't grasp the thought.

"Yes, but neither does Paul," Devon said.

"I believe I can be of some assistance with information," Zero spoke up. "I have been monitoring all frequencies, and I am receiving a great variety of television, radio, air traffic and police information. According to all of these, the date is Saturday, July 1, 2000, at 2:47 PM."

"Does that mean anything to you guys?" Danziger asked. Devon and Alonzo shook their heads.

"Zero, does this date have any historical significance?" Devon asked.

"I don't know," Zero said. "I am a labor and service robot. I was never given files of historical data."

"We'd need Yale," Danziger muttered. "He'd be useful right now."

"So what now?" Alonzo asked.

"That's just what we were discussing," Devon said. "I want to go after Paul as soon as we can. Danziger wants to ensure our survival before anything else, which could take weeks."

"Zero, where's Paul now?" Alonzo asked.

"I cannot tell," Zero replied. "We are in a vastly different environment from G889. The number of energy signals limits my ability to run resonance scans. Paul Baxter traveled beyond the range of my sensors over three minutes ago, and he was moving far faster than you could. Also, the population of the Earth is very large. I can detect the presence of any particular biped creature within a half-kilometer radius, but I could not identify the creature for you."

"Let's see if any of his stuff will help us," Alonzo suggested, nodding at the items which had fallen out of Paul's backpack.

They picked up a spare geolock rod, three food-concentrate wafers, a half-empty type 4 power pack, a data chip and a pair of socks.

Danziger was about to put the data chip in his gear set and activate it when Alonzo cried, "Wait!"

"What is it?" Danziger asked.

"That thing might have a scrambler," the pilot answered emphatically.

The method by which a gear set interacted with the brain was to send fake signals into the synapses, tricking the body into thinking that it was seeing and hearing whatever was programmed. Even simple messages worked this way, rather than as actual sound coming through a small set of speakers. With such an intimate level of interaction, the brain was susceptible to lethal commands coming from a booby-trapped data chip. These traps were called scramblers, for that was what they did to the brain of whichever unfortunate, unauthorized person tried to use them. The results were ugly, but they certainly worked.

"Yeah, and it might also have information we need," Danziger said. "And we don't have time for anything fancy."

"John, let's hold off on this for the moment, okay?" Devon asked, agreeing with Alonzo.

"I could read the data chip," Zero spoke up. "This would protect the rest of you from any harmful effects, and I could also start cracking the encryption which we will almost certainly find."

"How could you crack any encryption, Zero?" Alonzo asked. "I thought you were just a manual labor robot."

Zero actually hesitated a moment, which none of them had ever heard him do. "I was installed with certain decryption programs and methods many months ago."

"By whom?" Devon asked, although she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"By Morgan Martin," Zero answered, almost apologetically.

They all sighed. "Good old Martin," Danziger said. "Okay, Zero, here you go." He slid the chip into the robot's receptacle under the chin.

"The data chip does not contain any computer viruses or mind-scrambling programs," Zero said after a moment. "It is encrypted with a Level 5 code. It will take some time to decipher it."

"How long?" Devon asked.

"Anywhere from one minute to two-point-five years," Zero replied.

"Well, be sure to speed it up," Danziger said. "Anything with an encryption that strong must be important. We need to know what Paul's up to."

"I am working on it as fast as I can," Zero replied.

"What now?" Alonzo asked.

"Now we need to find food and shelter, without raising any questions," Danziger answered. "I don't have a clue how to do it, but I think a city is a better place to find it than open countryside."

"Weren't the people who lived outside of cities supposed to be friendly, offering shelter to strangers, and the people in the cities afraid of crime and distrustful?" Alonzo asked.

Devon shrugged. "It could have been the other way around, but I think you're right."

"What we're probably doing right now is trespassing on someone's land," Danziger said. "If what I've heard is true, we could be legally shot just for being here. I say we hike along the road to the city, see if we can hitch a ride along the way. It's only four kilometers."

"Miles," Devon corrected him, even as they set off toward the road. "I realize we're in way over our heads, but we've still got to blend in with these people as best as we can, so let's use their system of measurement." She awkwardly stuck the pistol in the waistband of her slacks and untucked her shirt to let it hang over, wincing at the discomfort as the butt of the gun rubbed against her stomach with every step.

"How long is a mile?" Alonzo asked.

"As near a kilometer as makes no difference," Danziger replied.

"A mile is about 1.6 kilometers," Zero corrected him.

"Do you think this is such a good idea?" Alonzo asked.

"What, going to the city?" Danziger retorted. "That's what I just got through arguing for."

"No, interacting with anyone at all," Alonzo said. "What about the butterfly effect? What if we change history completely, erasing everything we know, the moment we stop someone in the street and ask for directions?"

"If the butterfly effect theory is true, then we're already doomed," Danziger replied without breaking stride. "And remember, Paul's here, too, and he's not going to care about the butterfly effect one bit."

"And he's got technology on him which won't be invented for another century, as well as an alien creature captive," Devon added. "If anyone sees that Terrian, history will have a lot more to worry about than the three of us. But we need to be careful not to display our own technology. Zero, that means no talking if anyone other than us can hear you. We need to say as little as possible to the people around us, lest we show ourselves to be strange through our ignorance. I think it's obvious that none of us were ever big students of history."

Danziger gave small laugh. "I remember telling my history teacher that I would never have a use for any of that junk."

Devon looked at him awkwardly, thinking that his laughter sounded just a bit too jovial for someone who had just been hurled across the universe. It wasn't the forced laughter of someone who was trying to cope, but neither was it the easygoing laughter of someone who didn't care. It was somewhere between the two, and certainly not what she would have expected from him. But she didn't say anything.

They awkwardly climbed the fence (none of them getting past the barbed wire unscathed), and started walking towards Santa Fe, awkwardly sticking their thumbs out at the cars which sped by.

* * *

Paul had had to threaten the Terrian with more punishment if it didn't shut up. Now it was quiet, and so was he as he crept through the ditch by the dirt road, forcing the Terrian to keep its head down.

Paul knew he was taking a risk by keeping the Terrian alive. His mission was of the utmost importance and the Terrian was a liability. But the creature was necessary for his long-term survival, and he felt sure that his superiors would have smiled in approval. It was a risk he was taking for himself, and with all he was doing for the Council, he deserved a few perks. And it wasn't like the creature could hurt him, for he still had the magical bones.

He and the Terrian crossed the road and climbed another low fence (the Terrian needing to be dragged over). They quickly made their way towards a moderately-sized rural house with a run-down shed in its back yard. The house was at an intersection of a dirt road and a gravelly, semi-paved road. There were several other houses in the vicinity, but no one shouted. A cat saw them, and Paul's heart leaped into his throat for an instant, desperately trying to remember what he knew about cats. He had never seen a live one before. Would it bark and raise the alarm for its masters?

The cat slinked into the safe, dark spaces under the back porch and looked out with glowing eyes.

Paul quickly forced open the rotting wooden door of the shed. It looked as if it were hardly used at all. He shoved the Terrian inside. "Stay here," he said, then tapped his gear. "If you leave, you know what'll happen. I have some arrangements to make."

He shut the door, leaving the Terrian mourning to itself in the darkness. Paul didn't bother glancing around – after all, what good would it do? – but took off immediately for the dirt road. Once on it, he slowed to a walk as if he'd been there all along and whistled his way into Santa Fe.

* * *

Alonzo kept looking around at the landscape. "You know, except for the roads, the power lines, and the contrails of the planes, this all looks really familiar."

"I know what you mean," Devon said. "I feel like I've walked all of this before."

It was small talk, they all knew. All three of them were panicking inside, fit to burst with the awe-inspiring task of facing up to the fact that they were stranded 22 light years and two centuries from everyone they knew and loved: True, Ulysses, Julia. The horror of their predicament sank in with every footstep along the hot pavement. Only their experience at overcoming adversity helped them to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

For that was how almost every bad situation was handled, Devon knew. Not in a whirlwind and a magical thunderbolt, but in tiny steps. One foot in front of the other. Her father had taught her long ago that some people recognized this and some didn't, and the difference was that the ones who didn't refused to see how their little steps were getting them anywhere, and so gave up in despair.

There was a flip side to their experience, however, and that was hopelessness. It was one thing to say, "I've handled crises a thousand times before, so I can handle this one," and another to say, "I've endured a thousand crises already, and I just can't take any more." And Devon also knew it was only a matter of time before both Danziger and Alonzo – two people with short tempers under the right conditions – felt the frustration and despair and lashed out, probably at each other, then later at her. She'd seen the pattern.

One foot in front of the other, Adair, she thought. One foot in front of the other.

* * *

"Car break down?" Angie asked the three hitchhikers as they stumbled into the shade provided by her fireworks stand.

"Something like that," Devon answered.

"Thought so," Angie nodded. She was a pretty dark-haired girl of about 25 in a white T-shirt and shorts. A red baseball cap let through a flowing pony tail in back. "I've seen a lot of hitchhikers in my time, and I can always spot which type they are a mile away. You three are the product of car trouble, I just knew it. I'd let you use a phone, but I don't have one. My mom keeps nagging me to get a cell phone, but I don't want people to be able to reach me wherever I go, calling me up and bugging me. You know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I do," Danziger answered. "I leave mine at home a lot, too."

Devon shot him a look which he pretended not to see, then asked Angie, "Do you have any water?"

She made a face. "Oooh…a little. My manager tells me I'm not supposed to give it out, because we're here to sell fireworks, not give out water. But I don't care. What are we here for on this Earth if not to help people, right?" She filled three small paper cups with water from a round yellow cooler with a spigot and handed them over. They gulped it down gratefully.

"How much further to Santa Fe?" Alonzo asked.

"Technically, about three inches. We're right outside the city limits because we're not supposed to sell fireworks inside the city. But really, about another quarter mile until you find a phone."

"Why can't you sell fireworks inside the city?" Alonzo asked.

"Because they're afraid people will burn down houses with them," Angie replied. "I know, it's so stupid. They can just buy them here and then go back into town as easy as you please, but that's the law." She shrugged.

"But what do people want fireworks for?" Alonzo asked.

Angie tilted her head to one side and gave him an odd look. Devon cursed inwardly, desperately hoping that Alonzo would catch the evil glare she was giving him.

"For the Fourth," Angie finally said.

"The fourth what?" Alonzo asked.

"The Fourth of July," Angie said, exasperated. "You know, the day we celebrate the birth of our country?"

Devon sighed theatrically. "Don't let him bother you," she said. "That's his attempt at being funny. He doesn't realize that no one ever laughs." She shot Alonzo a steely sweet smile.

Angie just shrugged, obviously not amused. "Well, the best way into Santa Fe from here is actually to follow the railroad. You'll see it just ahead. Turn right and it'll take you into the area where some car repair shops are. It's shorter than following the highway."

"Thanks, and thank you especially for the water," Devon said. "We don't have any money to give you, but we won't forget it."

"Oh, that's all right," Angie smiled. "Hope your day gets better."

"It should," Danziger said. "It certainly can't get any worse."

Angie watched the three odd people move back into the sunshine and trudge on, then got back to her cheap romance novel. She flipped through the book to find the spot at which the handsome stable hand was seriously thinking about giving the demure lady of the house a righteous roll in the hay – finally! – thus helping her to break free of the tyrannical life her wicked husband imposed upon her. But alas, it was not to be. The Unresolved Sexual Tension continued. With no one buying fireworks, Angie read on, happy to learn that in the next chapter, the lady finally invited the stable hand into the house under false pretenses. While the maid (who was the stablehand's sometimes girlfriend) kept watch for her mistress, the lady of the house swooned in his arms on the kitchen table amidst the sugar and the strawberries as the muscle-bound young hunk madly prepared to rip off her bodice…

"Excuse me," the man said, and Angie jumped. What awful timing! she thought. Couldn't he have waited a chapter? The blonde man standing before her was thin and wiry, and he must be a hitchhiker, also.

"Sorry to startle you," Paul said, "but could I trouble you for some water?"

* * *

Alonzo, Devon and Danziger had stopped at small diner to drink some more water and to ask for directions to a homeless shelter or to some other kind of hospice. The lady behind the counter had said she really didn't know, thus making it clear that it wasn't her problem, and they had walked on. Now they sat on a corner bus stop bench, watching people file in and out of the doughnut shop across the corner, and the workers in the car repair shop across the street, and the people filling their cars with gasoline at the filling station across the other street, and they wondered what to do next.

"It's a nice city," Alonzo said.

"What do you mean?" Devon asked.

"Well, I mean, my impression of old Earth was that the cities were all grimy and polluted and full of crime and gangs. That's what everyone thinks of when they think of the world before the Skylift. But this isn't like that."

"Not all cities were that way," Devon said. "The big cities on the two coasts of America, which is where I think we are, were among the worst. But this city seems very pleasant, very relaxed. Mind you, we've only been here a little while, but my first impression is that it seems like it would be a great place to live."

She bit her lip as the full irony of what she'd just said hit her in the face. She desperately hoped neither of her companions took the golden opportunity to lash out with something cynical.

But all Danziger said was, "You know, if I'd kept that special recall device on me, that little gift we got a few weeks ago, we could get some professional help for dealing with this time-travel stuff."

The thought had occurred to Devon, too. "Yes, but you didn't. You couldn't have known."

"What are you two talking about?" Alonzo asked.

"Nothing," Devon sighed. "Just something we picked up on our last adventure which could have helped us now, if we had it with us. But it's 200 years away, so it's not worth thinking about."

Their attention was somewhat diverted by a taxi cab sputtering quickly into the car repair shop across the street, hopping the curb as it did. A tall, thin man with jet black hair hopped out of the driver's seat, full of nervous energy. He looked like a 30-year-old who was desperately trying to pass himself off as a 20-year-old, and he wore a black T-shirt which read "Roswell" on the front, above the image of a distorted white face. On the back were the words, "I believe." He ran inside.

They continued sitting in silence. They were all exhausted after their run up the mountainside, the fight with Paul and the hike into Santa Fe. Not even Danziger was urging them to get a move on. The situation was so surreal, it had overwhelmed them entirely.

The Roswell-believer came back out with one of the repairmen, desperately appealing for something, but the repairman was pointing his finger, obviously wanting the taxi driver to leave. Some of their words reached across the street. "I'm full up today!" the repairman said. "You can bring it back tomorrow morning, but I'm not going to put up with any-"

"But tomorrow will be too late!" the taxi driver wailed, actually clutching his hair with both hands. "I need to be working today! You've gotta help me!"

They couldn't hear the reply, but the repairman went back inside. The taxi driver, looking like he'd just run a marathon, put his hands on his hips and looked around helplessly.

Danziger stood up.

"Where are you going?" Devon asked.

"To make a new friend," he answered. He waited for a car to pass and jogged across the street (ignoring the "Don't Walk" sign, Devon noted, making her wonder if it was a heinous crime). With nothing better to do, she and Alonzo followed.

"What's the trouble?" Danziger asked the driver.

The driver registered Danziger's presence. "Oh, man," he said. "My car won't run right, and I can't get any business."

Danziger desperately struggled to recall everything he knew about old gasoline-driven engines. The principle was easy enough to understand, but many of the finer points were probably outside of his experience. He would just have to try.

"Open the hood, crank her up, and let's take a look," he said.

The man climbed behind the wheel and did exactly that. The engine chug-chugged into life and sputtered along. Danziger grimaced, trying to match his knowledge with what he was actually seeing. He knew he would have to be smart and work fast. Something inside told him that this stranger represented an opportunity for help, possibly even a place to sleep for the night. The man joined him in peering intently at the engine, giving Danziger the impression that he didn't have a clue what he was looking at.

"Something's not burning the gasoline right," Danziger said. "Did this happen suddenly?"

"Ummm…sort of. It began yesterday morning and it's been getting worse."

"Did you do anything different yesterday morning? Make any changes?"

"No."

"Hmm," Danziger mused.

"I put in some new spark plugs the night before that, though," the man said. "Do you think that might have something to do with it?"

Danziger just nodded once with his tongue in his cheek as he began to realize that he was not exactly dealing with the brightest star in the New Mexico sky. "Yeah, that could have something to do with it, all right. Show me what you did."

"Uh…" The man hesitated wildly, then reached inside the car and said, "I took these wires out right here, like th-"

"Don't take them out now!" Danziger said, grabbing his arm. "The car's running. But…that's what I needed to know. Go ahead and stop the car now." As the man again sat behind the wheel, Danziger followed the wires back and his eyes caught a latch which wasn't quite closed. He guessed the part he was looking at was the point at which the electricity was sent to the wires which fired the combustion. "Hey, did you knock this loose when you were putting the…the plug sparks in?"

"You mean the spark plugs?" the man asked, giving him a quizzical look.

"Yeah, whatever," Danziger replied. "The new things you put in. Did you fiddle around with that at all?"

"Ummm…" The man shrugged. "I don't know. I might have."

Danziger worked the latch until it was fastened properly and the cap was on good and tight. "Try it now."

The man hopped behind the wheel and the engine roared to life without a problem. Danziger winced as he revved the engine pointlessly in triumph, blowing hot air into his face.

"Yeah!" the man shouted and leaped out. "That's fantastic! That's great! You guys are wonderful! How can I thank you?"

"Well, let's talk about that," Danziger said, putting his arm around the man's shoulders.

* * *

Paul sauntered along a nice, upper-class residential street as the sun began lazily to think about setting over Santa Fe. If anyone stared at his grimy appearance, he neither noticed nor cared. He would get a shower soon enough.

His information chip had been one of the things he'd lost when that bitch had shot his pack open, and it hadn't been lying in the grass where he had fought the others upon arriving in this time. He wasn't worried about them reading it (as if they could), nor was he worried about losing the information. He'd had it all memorized, which was why he still knew exactly where to go.

He found the address, 2313 Desert Sun Drive, and waltzed up to the front door. Beside it was a glowing button. He pushed it, and distant bells chimed briefly. Moments later a big man with dark hair, slightly brown skin and a moustache opened the door. He was dressed in a polo shirt and slacks.

"Mr. Jose Rodriguez?" Paul asked.

"Yes," Jose replied. "Who are you?"

Paul uttered a single sentence. Jose's eyes grew wide and he started to tremble. Paul pushed his way inside without another word and the door closed behind him.

* * *

His name was Carson Muller, and he was as weird as they came. But he'd been happy to treat them to dinner for fixing his cab. After biting his lip and thinking about where he should take them as if it were the final question of a doctoral exam, he'd finally settled on an exquisite eating establishment called "Taco Bell," the menu of which thoroughly perplexed the time travelers.

Devon struggled to place her order with the gum-chewing teenage girl, who obviously wanted to be anywhere else but there. "I don't know…" she was saying.

"Would you like a taco salad?" the girl asked, trying to hurry her through the line.

"What's that?" Devon asked.

The girl blinked at her and shrugged. "It's a taco salad."

Devon's patience began to run thin. "I am not from your country," she said. "What is a taco salad?"

"It's a salad made out of taco stuff," the girl said, obviously resisting the urge to add, "Duh!"

"We'll take three of 'em," Danziger said.

"Three drinks?" the girl asked.

"Uh…sure," Devon said.

The girl rang them up and Carson got three tacos, a large soda and paid the bill. Devon, Danziger and Alonzo let Carson go ahead of them, then copied what he did. The drinks were self-serve, so they had their pick of several, all of which looked the same – a black carbonated substance. They took their tiny trays and sat down at a booth in the corner.

"So where are you guys from, anyway?" Carson asked, flashing Devon a quick grin. Devon didn't miss it, nor did she miss the quick flick of Carson's eyes to her breasts before going back to his tacos. Devon gave a weak smile in return then sighed and looked away.

"Uh…" Danziger tried to answer. "Nowhere in particular. We drift from place to place." They noticed that Carson had unwrapped a straw and stuck it through the plastic cap on his drink, so they nonchalantly did the same.

"Really?" he asked. "Where've you been?"

"Um…" they all looked at each other. "We don't remember, really," Devon said lamely.

Carson's eyebrow went up a notch. "Wow," he whispered. "You guys must drop some really heavy stuff."

None of them had a clue what he meant, but Danziger just nodded and said, "Yeah, we do." Wishing he could find some way to derail the conversation, he took a sip of his drink and immediately spit it out. "Damn! What is that stuff?"

Devon and Alonzo each cautiously took a sip of their own drinks, and their reactions were the same.

Carson was perplexed. "It's root beer," he said. "Coke. Cola. Soda pop. What, you never had this stuff before?"

"Ugh!" Devon said, wondering if she would ever get the sticky taste out of her mouth. "No, I'm afraid we haven't. God, that's awful."

Carson's eyebrow went up another notch. "Just where are you people from?"

* * *

Jose Rodriguez nervously drove his SUV through the Santa Fe evening, following the dirt roads as Paul directed him. He was still rattled – seriously rattled – by Paul's sudden appearance and what it all meant. Maybe there really was a God and a Devil, he thought, and Paul was the Devil, sent to punish him for his crimes.

It was the only thing he could think of which made sense.

"Down here," Paul directed him, without even bothering to consult a map.

"Where are we going?" Jose asked.

"Shut up and drive," Paul said. "Yours not to reason why."

* * *

Maria Callabenos struggled to close the front door as Tony, her six-year-old son, ran into the house ahead of her. She wearily set her textbooks on the table in the front hall while somehow keeping the day's mail in her hand and idly flipped through the letters. She would have to get herself and her son something to eat, as well as mow the lawn in what little daylight was left before the neighbors started complaining. She lived in a rural area, but their properties were close enough that they were bothered when she didn't take care of her yard. And after all that, she had a test to study for.

The mail didn't cheer her up any. Three bills, but still no child support payment. She would probably have to file another complaint in court, as if she had either the money or the time. And what good would it do? All Andrew had to say was that he was unemployed and the government was powerless to force him to help pay for the life of the child he'd brought into the world. She couldn't use that excuse, but her ex-husband could. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair. Since when had it ever been? she wondered.

She pulled out a frozen dinner and tossed it into the microwave. Her parents would help, she knew, but she didn't want to go back. God, the shame, she thought. Still, what if Tony suffered because of her pride? It was the question she faced every night, and again she put it off for one more day.

Tony was running through the house with a toy plane making buzzing sounds. "I'm going to put a cartoon on and I want you to eat in front of the TV, okay?" she said. "Mama's got to mow the yard." She'd look in on him every few minutes. She never wanted to be one of those mothers who ended up on the 10:00 news because of a tragedy resulting from leaving their child unattended for too long, and he was a pretty good kid. Thank God for that, at least.

She could get the mower gassed up and ready while his dinner was heating. Her own stomach rumbled, but it would have to wait. She stepped out the back door into the warm New Mexico evening. Sighing at the fading daylight, knowing she would be mowing in the dark again before she was through, she pulled open the rotting door to the shed and found…found… For a split second she thought the light was playing tricks, but there was some kind of brown creature with a shiny metal collar and Oh God it was standing up!

She screamed.

Tony dropped the plane. "Mama?"

* * *

Jose and Paul pulled up the dirt road just in time to see Maria run hysterically back into the house. "Shit!" Paul slammed his hand on the dashboard so hard it must have hurt, but before Jose could even register what was happening, Paul had wrenched open the door and leaped out without even waiting for him to come to a stop. In seconds the strange devil-man had sprinted up the road, vaulted the fence and raced to the shed.

* * *

Tony's world slowly came undone as his mother burst into the house, broadcasting terror on every wavelength. "Tony, get down on the floor! Down on the floor right now!" She shoved him down and madly dialed 911. She cradled the phone under her chin and pulled the shotgun off the rack, then pulled a box of shells from off the top of the rack and loaded two of them with shaking hands.

"911, please state the emergency," a pleasant voice said.

"There's a man hiding in my tool shed!" Maria cried into the phone.

"Ma'am, we have your address already and a police dispatch is on its way," the voice said, but Maria wasn't listening. Through the back screen door, she saw a thin man with blonde hair run into her yard and take the strange-looking man in her shed away by the arm! She had no idea what was happening. All she felt was a rage.

She dropped the phone, ran across the room and whipped the door open.

* * *

"Shit!" Paul said. "Three more minutes and we would have been fine! But _noooooo_ , the universe just couldn't cut me a break today, could it?" He turned to the Terrian. "And it's all your fa-"

 _BOOM!_

* * *

Jose, watching in bewilderment from the road, just about wet his pants when he saw the lady appear in the back door with the shotgun. He couldn't react. He only had time to watch the flash and hear the shot. From what he could tell, she'd missed.

* * *

"Shit!" Paul shouted again, his voice rising to the level of someone who'd had a very bad day. "When will these goddamned bitches quit firing at me?" He immediately veered toward the front of the house. The woman with the gun would either have to go through her house to the front, or come out into the back yard and around the corner to chase him. Either way, he'd be long gone.

* * *

Maria saw the strange man dragging his even stranger companion around to the front of her house and thought about giving chase, but she didn't want to leave Tony, crying loudly behind her. She stood in shock, her heart trying to hammer its way out of her chest, her knuckles white on the gun.

She could have sworn she'd hit him!

* * *

Paul threw the Terrian over the fence, swung himself over, and waved for Jose to stop. Jose had evidently panicked at the gunfire and was driving past the side of the house now. Paul had no doubt that Jose would have just hit the accelerator and left him there if he thought he could get away with it, but he was too afraid of the consequences. He bundled the Terrian into the back of the SUV and leaped in. "Go go go!" he yelled.

Jose didn't need telling twice. He punched it along the dirt road and away from there as fast as he could, leaving behind a terrified single 25-year-old woman, her equally terrified six-year-old boy, and the recording of a shotgun blast on a 911 call.

Like it or not, Maria would make the 10:00 news that night.

* * *

Carson had seen some pretty weird stuff in his time, but these people were just freaking him out. They had no past, no plausible story, and had never had a cola. They had never heard of spark plugs, yet they knew how to fix a car. The guy named Alonzo carried a net bag over his shoulder everywhere, never letting it out of his sight, even though it looked to contain only a large, fancy, sealed white salad bowl. They couldn't agree on the kind of car they'd been driving when it had broken down, or where it had broken down. They had no money, no one to call for help, and no place to stay.

The easy explanation was that they were on the most serious drug kick he had ever had the pleasure to witness. But if they were dope-heads, why were they so clean and straightforward? They weren't undercover cops, he knew that for sure. But he could not figure them out. It was as if they had appeared from nowhere.

The thought excited him no end. And that Devon woman was a _babe_. He hoped she wasn't attached to either of the men, but she almost certainly was. He wondered if they'd share her. Did he dare ask?

"So what you are guys going to do now?" he asked casually, wondering if their plans could somehow include him. He had a sneaking suspicion growing in the back of his mind, but he didn't want to dive into it too much in case it turned out not to be true. But he wanted it to be true so much.

Alonzo just took a sip of his water (they had all gotten water, saying it was all they could drink after having nothing else for so long). He was completely engrossed in filling out the kiddie puzzles on the tray lining paper with the small packet of crayons which the restaurant provided, and didn't seem to have heard the question.

"Well, we were actually hoping that you knew of a place we could stay for no money," Danziger said quietly. Carson got the distinct impression that the request was very difficult for the big man to say, that it was killing him inside to ask for such charity. That kind of honesty was something you just didn't get too often, and in that moment, Carson knew he wanted to hang with these people.

"Well, there's the Tumbleweed Motel on Cerrillos Road, it's pretty cheap," he said. "But I don't know of any place that's absolutely free." Nor did he. He'd always supposed that such places existed – shelters for the homeless and whatnot – but he didn't know anything about them. "You can stay at my place if you want," he said, hoping the eagerness wasn't showing in his voice too much. "It's not big, but there's room to stretch out on the floor."

"We would be very grateful," Devon said. "We don't have any money, but if we did…"

"Yeah, that's okay," Carson said, holding up his hand. "Really."

"So, ah, Carson," Devon said, "what do you do besides drive a cab?"

"I run a club called the Action League for Information and the Exposure of the Nation. A-L-I-E-N. Alien." He nodded enthusiastically, perhaps with the tiny hope that they'd heard of it. "Well, I say 'club,' but it's really just me. I publish a monthly club newsletter, in which I do my best to expose our government's cover-up of alien landings, and offer proof that the aliens really are among us."

"Oh," Devon said, nodding. She didn't know what else to say.

Carson plowed on. "Yeah, the taxi job allows me to learn my way around Santa Fe and Albuquerque and be mobile. And I can set my own hours, so if a news story breaks suddenly – I got a police scanner in the cab – I can go there right away and hopefully snap a few pics and grab some evidence before the Feds sweep it all away. Plus it's good money taking people to the airport and back."

"What makes you think aliens would land here?" Devon asked.

Carson blinked at her. "This is New Mexico," he said, as if that would explain everything. He pointed to his shirt. "You know?"

Devon just shrugged, as if to say that yes, she did really.

"What if you have someone in the cab with you when your big story breaks?" Danziger asked seriously. "Would you dump the poor guy on the curb and take off?"

"You know, I've often thought about that," Carson said. "And I have to tell you, I just might do that."

Whatever reply Danziger was about to say was lost as his gear began to beep.

"Hey, you do have friends in the world, after all," Carson said with a smile. "Someone's paging you."

The Edenites just looked at each other.

"What?" Carson asked, picking up on their alarm and confusion.

"Ah, it's nothing," Danziger said. "No one could be paging me. No one knows me except the people here. It must be some random signal in the air setting it off."

"It is not a random signal in the air," came a pleasant voice from somewhere deep in the seat between Alonzo and Danziger. Carson stared in amazement. It sounded like the voice of KITT from that old TV show _Knight Rider_. "I was trying to tell you something vital to our survival without doing so out loud, as instructed, but you won't answer the signal."

Carson leaned over the table and gazed in wonder at the salad bowl in the net, which seemed to be the one talking.

"I was trying to tell you two things of importance. One, I have picked up a police report you might be interested in, claiming to involve domestic violence and an intruder with light brown, sickly-looking skin all over. The location matches the area into which Paul escaped with the Terrian. Two, I have deciphered part of Paul's data chip, and I thought you should hear the _really_ bad news that I've discovered."

Carson remained frozen halfway over the table, his eyes flicking from one person to the next. The others sat without moving – Devon with her arms tightly folded and one hand beneath her chin, Danziger biting his lips, and Alonzo looking thoughtful. The crayon in his hand didn't move, frozen two inches from the end of the "A-Maize-ing Maze." None of them could meet his eye.

"Who the hell are you people?" Carson asked.

They all spoke at once.

"Traveling salesmen," Alonzo said.

"New-age missionaries," Danziger said.

"Television studio producers," Devon said.

Carson flopped back in his seat. "Do you want me to wait outside until you get your story straight? Would it make it any easier?"

"Look," Danziger sighed, "it's far, far too complicated to explain. But…" He looked at his two companions for support, then decided to take the plunge. "We need your help. Really, really bad. Zero says there's someth-"

"Zero?" Carson asked. "That's the talking salad bowl in the fishnet stockings?"

"Yes, the talking salad bowl in the fishnet stockings," Danziger confirmed. "He says there's something going on we need to investigate, and it's vitally important that we do so. Our lives could depend on it."

Carson nodded. "You need my help."

"Please," Devon said.

"And it's something that a UFO investigator _wouldn't_ understand?" Carson asked. "Listen, you're face to face with a guy who was judged to be too kooky to appear on Springer. I mean, I've got _references_. So what's the scoop?"

Danziger scratched the back of his head, but Alonzo decided to give it a try. He was tired of the lying and sneaking around, anyway. "We're from 200 years in the future. We're settlers on an Earth colony 22 light years away, and we suddenly found ourselves transported back to this planet, in this time, this afternoon, with no warning. There's a guy out there, a possible killer who's also from the future, and we need to find him before he does something really nasty."

Silence.

"That's our robot," Danziger said quietly, nodding to the seat beside him. "His head, actually. It's detachable from his body for the sake of convenience."

"You're from the future," Carson said.

"Yes, we are," Devon said, taking a sip of her water.

"All right," Carson said. "I'll believe anything once. Prove it."

Danziger took out his gear set and put it on Carson's head. Carson experienced a quick moment of fear – visions of aliens using this as a trick to take over his brain flashed through his mind – but he remembered the honesty he'd seen in Danziger's eyes earlier when he was asking for a place to stay, and decided to trust him.

Danziger engaged the full laser VR function and sent Carson into a whole new world.

The UFO hunter sat there with his mouth hanging open. The remains of his last taco fell out of his hand onto the table.

"I wish we could leave him like that, but we can't," Devon said. "Hopefully, we can get him to take us to this incident Zero mentioned. This is already getting out of hand. Okay, Zero, what have you got from Paul's chip?"

"Nothing exact, I'm afraid," Zero replied. "Different sections of the chip have been encrypted in different ways, so only parts of it are becoming available at a time. The encryptions are very difficult, but the programs Morgan uses are really nice, so progress is being made."

"Yeah, that's swell, Zero," Danziger said. "What's the info?"

Zero hesitated. "You're really not going to like it."

"Tell us, Zero, or I'll feed you some root beer," Danziger said.

"The simpler encryptions were set up for his personal journals rather than for the details of his plan, which are more heavily protected," Zero said. "So his journals are all I have deciphered so far. Most of them consist of insane ramblings of mass destruction, Armageddon, and comments relating to Godhood. He often refers to Eden Project as 'the betrayers.' But there is a constant theme throughout his journal entries. One example reads, 'The betrayers shall be unmade when, with the tiniest pressure of my finger, I shall erase their blight from the universe forever. They will never even have existed. Not even God has that kind of power.' That particular entry was followed by 23 exclamation points. There are many more like that, if you really want to hear. All such journal entries seem to have been made after he broke into our logs and discovered the secret power of the nexus points."

The three Edenites were stunned. "Paul plans…to change history," Alonzo said. "He's going to do something to prevent us from ever having lived!"

"He's out to kill us all," Devon whispered.


	3. Chapter 3

Jose struggled to control the car as he raced down the dirt lane, almost skidding off the road in several places. The fact that it was dusk, one of the most difficult times for people to see properly, wasn't helping. Paul crawled to the front and pulled himself into the passenger seat.

"You've been shot!" Jose said, almost sliding into a ditch again. The blood on the side of Paul's left leg was frightening.

"You're very perceptive," Paul snapped, as if he didn't feel a thing. "Try not to kill us, all right! Get us back onto a big road with lots of people, you idiot! Are you just driving in a straight line because you can't think?"

With his hands shaking uncontrollably, Jose tried to do as Paul instructed.

* * *

Carson's hands were shaking uncontrollably as he gripped the wheel. "Oh, man! Oh, man!" Carson paused to pant for a few seconds, shaking his head. Then he said it again. "Oh, man!"

In the back seat of Carson's cab, Devon leaned over, as if in exhaustion, and rested her forehead on Alonzo's shoulder. "How many times has he said, 'Oh, man?'"

"Forty-three," Zero calmly replied.

"Oh, _man!_ "

"Forty-four."

Carson exited I-25 and made a wide right turn, crossing the center line and barely missing a dark SUV coming the other way which also crossed the center line. "Watch where you're going, doofus!" Carson yelled into his closed window as they passed. The others held on for dear life.

* * *

"Idiot cab driver!" Paul screamed uselessly as Jose barely missed the taxi and turned onto the highway.

* * *

"So, oh, man, you guys gotta tell me," Carson raved. "About the future. You gotta tell me."

"Carson, please," Devon implored him. "Not now. We really are in some serious trouble, and we need your help."

"But you can talk while I drive, can't you?"

"Carson," Danziger said, "there's lots of stuff that we can't tell you. We'll try to satisfy your curiosity as best as we can later, but right now, we just need you to concentrate on driving. Please?"

"Yeah, okay," he nodded. There was silence in the cab for a few seconds, then Carson just shook his head and said, "Oh, man."

Devon groaned.

* * *

Carson parked along the edge of the dirt road which ran by the side of Maria's house, a few dozen meters behind it. They could see a couple of officers investigating the shed in the back yard.

The Edenites got out and watched as Carson opened the trunk and pulled out a pen, pad of paper and an oddly-shaped black box with a bulb on top. Devon suddenly realized she was looking at a camera.

"All right, John and Alonzo, I think you two should stay here," Carson said. "Devon and I will act as reporters for my newsletter. Two reporters will be odd enough, but four would just be too weird.

They all glanced at each other and shrugged. "Okay," Devon said, "what do I do?"

"You take some pictures, have a look around, ask any questions you want," Carson said, handing her the camera. "It's supposed to be a free country, so don't let them tell you that they can't say anything, all right?"

Devon hefted the camera in her hands, not even sure how she was supposed to hold it, much less use it. She just looked up at Carson and shook her head.

"Oh, geeze, don't you guys have cameras in the future?" he asked.

"I've seen one of these, once," Devon said. "In a museum when I was a little girl."

Carson took the camera and handed her the pad. "I assume you know how to use a pen and paper?"

"That I do," Devon answered.

"Also, tell everyone who asks that we work for the _Free World Journal_ ," Carson said as they walked to the front of Maria's house. "It sounds more respectable than _ALIEN_. I've found that people don't like to talk to a reporter who works for a rag called _ALIEN_ , so I always say _Free World Journal_. Say it, okay? I don't want you to get it wrong."

"The _Free World Journal_ ," Devon repeated. "The _Free World Journal_."

"That's it."

"Strange," Devon said. "That sounds so manipulative, but you don't strike me as a manipulator, really."

"It's not manipulation, it's just common sense," Carson replied.

"Just like it was common sense for you to get me away from my two male companions so you could have a crack at me?" There was no accusation in her voice, but Carson could tell she didn't approve.

"Devon, I'd take any chance to have a pretty lady like you by my side," Carson replied with a smile. It wasn't a mean smile, just cheerful. "But I wanted you as my assistant instead of John or Alonzo because people respond subconsciously to a man and a woman a lot more easily than to two men. Women are less threatening and prettier to look at, and most of the officers we'll be dealing with will probably be male. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."

Devon just nodded in appreciation, marveling at Carson's ready knowledge of people. She didn't know if it was true, but it sure sounded good. She realized that while Carson was ignorant of some things, he was actually quite intelligent in his own way.

"So what if the officers ask why someone from the _Free World Journal_ is here at all?" Devon asked.

"The police report said that the man hiding in the back yard was a sickly-looking brown all over, like he was covered with dirt and mud. That's just strange enough to qualify as _ALIEN_ material. But it won't matter, because none of these guys will have heard of the _Free World Journal_ , anyway."

"Is that good or bad?"

Carson shrugged, and they strolled up to the front porch. An ambulance, a New Mexico state patrol car, a Santa Fe police car, and one ordinary car were in front of the house or parked in the drive. A group of concerned neighbors stood in the street. The ambulance drivers, a short blonde woman and a dark-haired man, were heading for their vehicle at a leisurely pace across the front lawn.

"They didn't need you guys here after all?" Carson asked amiably.

"Nah, no one's hurt," the man answered. "Poor woman's just scared, that's all."

"Any idea what she saw?" Devon asked, trying to sound like a reporter, yet keeping the casual, friendly tone that Carson had adopted.

"Nope," the woman answered. "But it sure sounds weird. They got all the info in there." She motioned towards the house with her head. Carson nodded his thanks and approached the front door.

" _Free World Journal_ ," Devon said, nodding to the officer who stood in the doorway, noting that his name tag read "Jenkins." "Would it be possible to ask a few questions?"

"What do you want to know?" Jenkins asked.

"Could you tell me what happened here tonight?"

"I don't know if they're finished with the investigations in there or not," he said. "It's not usually my place to give press releases. Sometimes we have security issues." He didn't move. Behind them, the ambulance drove away and another car drove up to take its place.

"Would it possible for you to check?" Devon asked. "We'd be happy to wait." Two car doors opened and closed.

Jenkins thought for a second. "Yeah, let me check. Wait right here, okay?" Then he looked up at the two newcomers walking towards him, and his face broke into a smile. "Hey, Alan, what are you doing here, buddy? You're not supposed to be working on your vacation! You desk-jockeys shouldn't be at crime scenes, anyway."

Devon and Carson turned to find a man and a woman walking across the lawn, then tried to fade into the side of the front porch as the two men greeted each other.

"Well, I only live half a mile away," Alan said. "Stacy called me up, told me a wild man was hanging out in people's back yards, so I thought I'd come see what was up. This is my sister, Evelyn, she's also on vacation, here for our family reunion. She works for the FBI."

"Oh, the big time," Jenkins said, shaking her hand.

"We just thought we'd come offer any help we could," Alan said. "Find out if there was some kook in the neighborhood we needed to know about."

They seemed to take into account Devon and Carson, standing like a couple of bricks beside them. Jenkins said, "These are a couple of reporters, from, ah, where?"

"The _Free World Journal_ ," Carson said, and grinned manically at Evelyn. "FBI, huh? Cool." He grinned some more. "I watch _X-Files_."

Evelyn gave him a tight smile. "Don't we all," she said politely.

There was silence for just a split second, then Alan asked Jenkins, "So is your partner here?"

"Yeah, he's right inside," Jenkins said. "I think he's still talking to the woman."

"Okay, thanks," Alan replied, and he and his sister stepped into the house.

Jenkins turned back to Carson and Devon. "Listen, I don't think now's a good time. If you want, you can come down to the station tomorrow or Monday and get copies of the statements."

Carson considered for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, okay. Thanks." He and Devon left.

"What a complete waste!" Carson muttered when they were out of earshot of Jenkins.

"You surprise me," Devon said. "I thought for sure you'd start arguing to be let in."

"I thought about it," Carson replied. "But I have to take each situation as it comes. Sometimes it pays to argue and sometimes it doesn't. I felt just then that we'd have a better chance in the long run if we didn't make a fuss. Besides, most people are all too willing to talk when they get the chance, because people are always looking for avenues of expressing themselves, so if we come back to talk to the woman later when there aren't any police, I think we'll have better luck."

As he spoke, another car pulled up and a man got out. They looked back briefly to see who it was, and Carson stiffened. "That's Ralph Edwards, a beat reporter for the _Santa Fe New Mexican_ ," he said. Carson stopped to tie and re-tie his shoe so he and Devon could observe what happened when Ralph met officer Jenkins at the door. After a few pleasant words of familiarity, Ralph was allowed inside.

"You see that?" Carson fumed quietly. "You see that? They'll let him in but not us! Those scumbags."

Devon didn't reply, but accompanied Carson back to the cab where they told the others what had happened. They all agreed to come back the next day to talk to the woman who lived there.

They climbed into the cab and Carson asked, "Any special requests?"

"A place to bathe and a place to sleep, in that order," Danziger said tiredly. "We just watched our second straight sunset without any sunrise in between."

"Do, ah, you people have any changes of clothes, or anything?"

"No," Devon said. "We arrived here with nothing but what we're wearing."

"I'm wondering what we should do about what you got on," Carson said. "I mean, you can shower at my place, but I don't have a washing machine and all the laundromats are closed by now, and not to be impolite, but you guys smell a little and you got a healthy amount of dirt on you. You'll need something different to put on later."

"Do you have anything?" Devon asked, feeling awful for asking Carson for yet more help. And she knew they would be asking him for even more over the next few days.

"Sure, I always keep spare clothes in all sizes for any weird people from the future I might come across," Carson said. "No, I don't. So I think we need to go shopping before we go home."

Devon said, "But we don't have-"

"You can get a job at Burger King and pay me back if it bothers you," Carson said. "But I own this cab, so I don't pay a daily fee like a lot of the other saps who get sucked into being a cabby and then can't get out of it. I got a little money to spare. So let's go get you people some more clothes."

As he drove back to Santa Fe, Devon skillfully prevented Carson from asking them questions by getting him to rant for a bit about his jealousy of other reporters. (She knew perfectly well that Carson wasn't the only one who could manipulate.) So the Edenites got an earful about Ralph Edwards, and about the yokels up at KOB-TV, Santa Fe's NBC affiliate. When Carson was finished with them, he launched into a diatribe about the Santa Fe city council. By the time they reached the department store, they knew more about local politics than they had ever wanted.

The large white sign which greeted them as they stepped out of the cab read, "Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart!" One bulb on the right side of the sign flickered valiantly, but it was obviously breathing its last.

"All right, for now I got enough for one shirt and shorts or pants each, plus several pairs of underwear and other stuff," Carson said. "I'll be waiting at the front of the store. Get whatever you need."

When they came back half an hour later with their selections, they found that Carson had picked up some snack food and extra toilet paper. While Carson paid for their purchases, Devon screamed silently to herself, _"In the future, I'm a multi-billionaire!"_

As they hit the road again, Carson said, "Well, I know you guys are having a bad time, but it's actually nice that you're staying with me. I get to have company, but at the same time I know that you won't be drinking any of my Coke. That's the best of both worlds, right there. It really is."

Not knowing any better, they couldn't disagree.

* * *

Jose meekly brought the antiseptic to Paul, glancing with terror at the strange brown creature with the silver collar crouched in the middle of his living room. Paul had his pants off at the dining room table. He took the antiseptic without a word and applied it to his shotgun wound, which looked ghastly. But he apparently didn't feel a thing. He could have been applying suntan lotion for all the emotion he displayed.

"What are you?" Jose asked.

"Your master and king," Paul replied. "The one you'll obey."

Jose turned to regard the strange creature. He felt like he was in a nightmare. "And what is that?" he whispered.

"That is my ticket to fortune," Paul said. "I've decided that it's also my amusement." He strapped on his gear, keyed a command, and said, "Charge."

Jose just about jumped out of his skin when the creature emitted a high-pitched trill as the collar bristled with electricity. It slumped its shoulders again. Despite its inhumanness, Jose could swear he saw despair and fatigue in the creature.

Paul shocked him again, laughing, but then appeared to tire of the game. He took off his gear set without deactivating it and set it on the table. "You know, I'm wondering what I should call my pet Terrian."

"Terrian?" Jose asked.

"Yeah, I can't keep calling it 'Hey you,' can I?" Paul asked, staring at the wall. "I gotta give it a name. Russell? No, not Russell. Brian? Brian…" he mused thoughtfully. "Yeah, Brian. I'll call my pet Terrian 'Brian.' Where do you keep your guns?" he asked abruptly.

"What?" Jose asked, still shaken by what he'd just seen and caught off guard even more by the sudden change in topic.

"Your guns," Paul repeated. "Where do you keep them?"

Jose gave a slight shake of his head. "I…I don't have any guns. I never bothered."

Paul was startled. "Are you lying to me?"

"No!" Jose said hastily. "I don't own any! I never saw the need. I'm not a hunter, and this isn't a big crime city."

Paul sat back in his chair with a look of disgust. "But guns are fun," he said sourly, sounding like a little child. "Well, that just means we get to go shopping tomorrow."

Jose hesitated for a second. "You mean…shopping for a gun?"

"Yeeeesssssss," Paul said, as if he were speaking to someone who was stupid.

"But…but any shop which sells guns won't be open. Tomorrow's Sunday."

" _What?_ " Paul screeched, leaping out of his chair.

Jose just shrugged. "S-Mart used to sell guns, but they stopped. They would have been the only gun-sellers open on Sunday. Everyone else will be closed."

"But Monday's the big day!" Paul screeched. "I need to be ready by Monday!"

Jose just shrugged, baffled by this display of childish ranting.

Paul calmed down a bit and began pacing slowly. "But the event isn't until Monday afternoon, so if I get a gun Monday morning, everything should be fine."

Jose gulped once, knowing Paul wasn't going to like the next bit. "You can't get it when you walk in. You have to fill out an application and wait three days. It's the law. It helps to keep crazy people and felons from buying them." _Like you_ , Jose thought, but didn't dare say it out loud. He also decided not to tell Paul that if he could find a gun show that weekend, he could buy whatever he wanted with no questions asked. That seemed like a really good fact to withhold.

Paul stood rooted to the carpet as his face turned several shades of purple. "That's," he finally ground out, "not… _fair!_ "

Jose had to bite his tongue to keep from replying, "Tough shit." Paul's manner was comical, but he couldn't afford to forget that the man was superhuman and deadly.

Paul breathed hard and forced himself to calm down. "Fine," he said. "I'll come up with a way." He turned to the Terrian and said, "In the garage, Brian. Through there. Move it, or you'll get a charge."

Brian rose and silently walked through the kitchen and into the garage. Paul closed the door and locked it. "I'm going to bed," he said. "I'm tired."

"You, uh, want me to pull out the bed from the couch?" Jose asked. He did have a spare bedroom which had once belonged to his daughter, but the thought of Paul setting foot inside the room of his child, much less sleeping there, filled him with horror.

But Paul had other ideas. "I don't care where you sleep. I'm taking the master bedroom." He snatched his gear set petulantly from the dining room table, grabbed his pants and stalked up the stairs.

Jose could only watch him go, then turned to look fearfully at the door leading to the garage.

* * *

"Here it is, home sweet home," Carson said.

The Edenites walked in to find a small house, obviously well lived in. It wasn't filthy, but it wasn't too neat, either. Most of what they saw was paper. Stacks of government reports, books, newspapers from around the world, and computer printouts were everywhere.

Carson stowed his small bag of groceries and said, "Bathroom's down the hall and to the right. I've only got one shower." He plopped himself on the couch and said with a grin, "So what can you guys tell me about the future? Come on, you promised! I'm dying to know."

"First in the shower," Alonzo said and ran to the bathroom with his new clothes, leaving Devon and Danziger to deal with Carson.

"You know, Carson, I'm not sure it would be a good idea to tell you anything," Devon said diplomatically. "I mean, you couldn't go back to the Middle Ages and tell them about this time, could you?"

Carson squirmed, trying desperately to come up with an answer to that. "Well, no," he said. "But…can't you tell me _something_? At least tell me what to invest in. Or tell me if there's gonna be a war soon so I can stay clear of it." He suddenly sat forward. "Is the government covering up alien contact? You must know in another 200 years!"

Devon and Danziger looked at each other. "I'm sorry, Carson, I really am," Devon said, "but I can't really say. I think it would be a terrible idea. I'm…I'm really sorry we got you involved in all this."

"Oh, that's okay," Carson said. He was dejected, but he could see their point. "Could I at least play with that gear set thing some more? That was awesome!"

"Yeah, knock yourself out," Danziger said, tossing his to him.

"Does it have any games?"

"Tons." Devon showed him how to access them, and Carson happily retired to his bedroom for the night.

Devon laid her head back on the couch and sighed with relief. "I haven't slept in forever," she said.

"I haven't slept in negative 200 years," Danziger said with a yawn.

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the running water and Alonzo's attempt at singing. After a while the water shut off, and a few minutes later Alonzo came out. Danziger busted out laughing.

"What?" Alonzo asked.

"It's those shorts, man," Danziger said. "I haven't seen legs that white in a long time."

"Yeah, well, yours won't look any prettier," Alonzo replied, tossing the towel right onto Danziger's face. "It's shower time, mister mechanic."

* * *

After they had all showered they still couldn't sleep, despite their exhaustion. Too much had happened to them that day, too much that needed talking about. Zero informed them that he was making progress on the decryption, but had nothing more at the moment.

They sat and talked for a while on the patio, which opened onto the living room from a sliding door. The night was warm and peaceful, the sky dotted with stars. Alonzo, sensing perhaps that Devon and Danziger needed to talk, or perhaps just wanting to be alone himself, eventually stepped inside and sat on the couch. He set Zero's head beside him and picked up the remote control, looking at it. The commands etched onto the surface made it clear that this was for the television set. He turned it on, and the screen slowly flared to life.

"First we sprinkle a little flour on the chicken."

He changed the channel. _Click_.

"Live from New York, it's Saturday Niiiiiiiiiiiiight!"

 _Click_.

"The snow leopards of Siberia are among the world's most rarely-photographed animals."

 _Click_.

"Shields, Mr. Chakotay."

"Aye, Captain."

 _Click_.

"Come away with me, Karen. Leave Jason!"

"But Jagger, what about Brenda? You know she won't leave you alone."

 _Click_.

"Sunday nights are for aliens here on the Sci-Fi Channel. First, it's _Alien Nation_ , followed by _Ear_ -"

 _Click_.

"And with two innings left, it's the Texas Rangers leading the Yankees, five runs to four."

 _Click_.

"Is it just me, or is Watts really hot?"

"Bear!"

"Yes?"

"Do we have a problem?"

"No."

"'Cause I'm trying to describe how these DATs keep your ass on the ground. So if I were to kick you-"

 _Click_.

"Hey hey, we're the Monkees!"

 _Click_.

"Congressional Republicans today blocked legislation which would have closed the loophole of allowing people to buy guns at gun shows without background checks, even after all the promises which Congress delivered in the wake of the Columbine High School shootings."

 _Click_.

"Scully, we can't go to just anyone about what we've discovered."

 _Click_.

"I love you! You love me! We're one happy family!"

 _Click_.

"I have something to say. It's better to burn out than to fade away!"

 _Click_.

"Tune in Wednesday night to see who gets voted off the island."

 _Click_.

"Nyaaaaah, I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque."

 _Click_. Alonzo turned the TV off. He stared at it for a long moment. "What am I gonna do?" he finally whispered to the dark screen. It had been so alive and so full of color, but it couldn't talk back to him and answer his questions.

"About what?" Zero asked.

Alonzo had forgotten the robot was there. "About everything," he answered. "About this freak who wants to erase us from existence. About being stuck here in the past. About never seeing Julia again. I feel like I'm losing my head, Zero."

"You should talk," Zero replied.

Alonzo grimaced. "I'm being serious, Zero. I don't know what to do. I feel…" He breathed once, very deeply. "I feel just like I did after we crashed. Fate threw me a change in my life that I wasn't expecting. It was too huge for me to cope with. It was sudden. One moment I'm a pilot getting ready to drop cargo and return to Earth, the next moment I'm a colonist with a broken leg on a stretcher. I couldn't cope, Zero. I _didn't_ cope. I…I've never really gotten over the embarrassment of that. I almost killed myself, you know." Alonzo's face was screwed up in confusion, as if he were analyzing the thoughts of a different person. "I actually tried to do it," he whispered. "I actually once tried to kill myself."

"You're not thinking of doing it again, are you?" Zero asked.

"No," Alonzo shook his head. "But Zero, that awful quirk of fate which ripped me out of the sky and planted me in the ground turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. If someone had told me that when it happened, I would have hit 'em. I really would have. But now I know that I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

Zero was silent. Perhaps he didn't know what to say. Perhaps the robot hadn't a clue what Alonzo was talking about. But at this point, Alonzo didn't care.

"And my big fear is that perhaps there was some design at work, there," he continued. "Maybe some higher power knew what I needed more than I knew myself, and led me to the place that I needed to be." Alonzo shook his head in confusion. "But the crash also killed people, so I can't believe that's right. I can't figure it out. All I know is that it was awful, and then it turned into something wonderful. And now, here I am, once again ripped out of the environment I call home and stuck somewhere else, with no way back that I know of. It's awful. Does that mean that this will also turn into something wonderful?"

"Why is that a fear?" Zero asked.

"Well, the first time it happened, it taught me how ignorant I am," Alonzo replied. "How ignorant we all are, really. It's so easy for a person to be in a certain place and _think_ they're happy, when they're really not. That crash taught me how little I know about what my own needs are, and about what would make me happy and what wouldn't. I mean, you'd think that I would know what would make me happy, but I didn't have a clue.

"After the crash, all I wanted to do was go back to being a pilot. I couldn't. And now, all I want to do is return to Julia. I can't. Does that mean that I'm going to grow to love it here and that all the love I shared with Julia will turn out to be some kind of situation where I realize I wasn't happy at all, and I just thought I was? I feel like I can't trust my own emotions, any more." He looked down at Zero. "That's what I'm afraid of. Even more than not getting back to Julia, I'm afraid that I'll wake up one morning and see the time I spent with her as just a thing I went through. If that happened, Zero, I would be so lost."

"I don't know what to say," Zero replied. "I understand what you're saying, but I can't really relate. I follow my programming, and that's all the purpose I need."

Alonzo smiled, just briefly. "I wish it were that simple," he whispered. Then he looked down at Zero's head. "What are we gonna do here, in this time?"

"Well, for a start, we could become television studio producers and make better programs," Zero replied.

Alonzo nodded. "That we could." He reached over to turn on the radio and found a station which played some nice 20th-century music. He set Zero on a table and laid down on the couch. Moments later, he was asleep.

* * *

"Something's bothering me," Devon said.

"Just one thing?" Danziger asked.

They were sitting on green plastic chairs around a small green plastic table which Carson had evidently thought would look nice on his patio, looking up at the stars. The sliding door was open slightly, and they had heard Alonzo speak with Zero briefly, although they hadn't heard what he'd said. Now music from the radio filtered through. It sounded nice. Occasionally a car swished down the street.

"Since we've arrived, you haven't really shown much fear about being stuck here," Devon said.

Danziger stiffened ever so slightly and looked at the table, trying to appear unknowing, and Devon knew that she'd hit the nail right on the head.

He shrugged. "I'm afraid, yeah. There hasn't been any time to show it. We've been busy trying to survive since we arrived."

She shook her head. "That's not it. If I didn't know you, I wouldn't see it. But after hiking across a planet with someone for two years, you get to know them really well. And the John Danziger I know would be taking off the head of everyone around him at the thought of never seeing True again. But you're not doing, that. You haven't even mentioned True once."

"Maybe I don't want to think about it," Danziger said, trying to sound gruff and failing miserably. "Maybe I've stuffed it deep down inside."

"You couldn't stuff an emotion if someone handed you written instructions," Devon protested. "So what do you know that I don't?"

Danziger shifted uncomfortably in his seat, knowing he'd been found out and that he couldn't do anything now to get out of it. Did he have the right to withhold information from Devon? Conversely, did he have the right to offer her false hope? How could he tell her that the Terrians had once sent him back in time with a strand of Uly's DNA in order to ensure that Devon became pregnant, setting all the events of the colonization of G889 in motion retroactively? He hadn't understood it, and he'd _certainly_ never told anyone.

He chose his words with care. "Devon…as far as I know, you've never told anyone who Uly's father was."

Devon's eyebrows shot up into her hair. Talk about unexpected twists in the conversation! she thought. "No," she answered quietly. "I haven't. What's that got to do with anything?" It was her turn to be nervous now.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to pry," Danziger said. "I just said that to make a point. You see, we all have our personal sides. And right now, you're really asking me about something deeply personal." He gave her a meaningful look, and his deep voice rumbled softly. "Please don't."

Devon thought quickly. (Why did she feel like she was suddenly fighting him?) "I'm not sure I would keep personal things personal if it meant helping to restore the lives of my friends."

This time it was Danziger's turn for his eyebrows to rocket skyward. "Oh, yeah?" he asked. "What about Shepard?"

Devon flinched, and Danziger knew that had cut her. But his mouth plowed on. "Or the missing biochip in your brain that the rest of us have, or the cause of your sudden illness when we had to put you in cryosleep for a day?"

"Those were different," she said, her voice shaking.

"If you say so," Danziger said.

"Yes, I say so," she insisted. "You're being unfair, calling up examples that don't really compare. I don't think they make your point. Now John Danziger, if you know something which can help us, please, _please_ , I'm begging you." He was startled to find tears spring to her eyes, and her lip quivered, ever so slightly. "Please, let me know. Just give me some kind of reassurance, anything, that we can get back."

He leaned forward and took her hand in his, sighing deeply. "Devon, listen to me. I want you to listen close, and I don't want you to try to get anything more out of me than what I'm about to tell you, because it won't happen. It will never happen. Do you understand? I'll walk away from you and destroy any relationship we might have before that happens."

Devon looked into his eyes and knew that he meant it. She nodded.

Danziger took a deep breath. "Sometime during our journey, I won't tell you when, the Terrians called upon me to perform a task for them. It was a task I didn't want to do because I didn't trust them. No one else knew about it. They didn't ask anyone else. They just asked me. This task involved sending me through a spider tunnel, somehow, back in time. And, somehow, through space."

Devon listened with rapt attention.

"They sent me back to the space stations to the time just before we left."

By fudging slightly about the time to which he had been returned, he hoped to mislead Devon's thoughts, because he could already see her brain turning these facts over and trying to fit them into her worldview with lightning speed. If he had told her "eight years before we left," she would have taken less than a minute to put two and two together and come up with Ulysses.

He had to be very careful, here.

"Now, I'm not going to tell you what the Terrians wanted me to do," he said quietly. "That will remain a secret to my grave. But I can tell you that they were able to open up a spider tunnel for me to return to G889 when my task was completed."

Devon's mind was whirling. "So it can be done," she whispered.

Danziger shrugged. "I don't know, Devon. In that case, the Terrians knew where and when I was. I was acting on their behalf. Here, we're on our own, and the Terrians might not have any idea where we are, or care about getting us back. I didn't want to give you false hopes, because I can't guarantee anything."

"The Terrian," Devon whispered. "The one that came through with Paul. It might be able to help us."

Danziger nodded. "That's what I'm basing my hopes on."

Devon's face tilted to one side in anger and disbelief. "And you kept this to yourself, knowing that Alonzo and I are _dying_ inside?"

Danziger just shrugged. "Devon…I…I didn't really think about it."

"Well you should have!"

"Oh, come on, cut me some slack!" he said. "You wanted me to divulge something so delicate, that I…" he foundered, lost for words.

Devon looked at him strangely. "It had to do with me, didn't it?"

Danziger just shook his head. "Devon, I can't say."

She looked deep into his eyes, his face, but they remained blank. Poker-face blank. Only then did she remember that John had a small reputation among the ops crew for being able to bluff at cards like almost no one else.

"I underestimated your ability to hide emotions, John," she whispered. "You do it quite well."

"I just do what I have to do," he whispered back. "Believe me, I don't enjoy it. Please don't ask any more."

She lowered her head for a second, showing her agreement. She gripped his hands tightly. "It still hurts that you let Alonzo and I suffer this whole day while you had hope for the future. Literally."

He shrugged. "I never thought you needed it."

"What?" she asked, amazed.

"You've never needed it before," he said. "You've always been Devon Adair, woman of steel. I once told Walman that you were ready to pick up the TransRover and carry it across a river on your back, and he didn't contradict me. You've always been the poster woman of idealism and strength and self-confidence." He shrugged again. "It never even crossed my mind that you'd be so terrified that you'd need my help."

Devon looked at him in disbelief. "I'm always terrified," she said. "And maybe I'm tired of carrying the goddamned TransRover on my back, because that's certainly what it feels like I've done!"

Danziger gulped once. He'd rarely heard Devon use even the mildest expletive, even when not around the kids. It was a sign of how distraught she was, and it made him feel awful.

"Maybe I'm tired of being the one the group relies on to keep them going!" she continued, clearly upset. "Maybe I'm tired of taking care of everyone, of patching things up with the Terrians whenever someone else kicks them the wrong way, of feeling the weight of an entire planet on my shoulders. Maybe, just maybe, I need someone to lean on and to hold me, because I'm tired, and I feel like I can only take so _much_ , John!"

He held her. Buried her face in his shoulder and promised himself he'd never let go.

"I'm sorry, Devon," he whispered. "I never knew. It never occurred to me. I…" He breathed deeply. "I underestimated your ability to hide your feelings."

She sniffed slightly. "I hear that's a problem that's been going around," she whispered.

He held her close, and neither of them felt like moving. The only sound was a few crickets and the radio deejay's soft voice.

"Hey, Mike Anderson, here. I'll be showering you with songs all the way to midnight. We have mostly clear skies all the way through Wednesday, at least. Right now it's 81 degrees. Here's some Greenday for you, on light rock 88.9, KOBA."

The light strums of a guitar floated through the door, and a man began to sing.

 _Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road._  
 _Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go._  
 _So make the best of this test, and don't ask why._  
 _It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time._

 _It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right._  
 _I hope you had the time of your life._

Danziger just held Devon, and she held him back. He felt her body relax against his, and he began to stroke her lightly on the back as they silently heard the words.

 _So take the photographs and still frames in your mind,_  
 _Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time._  
 _Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial._  
 _For what it's worth, it was worth all the while._

 _It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right._  
 _I hope you had the time of your life._

 _It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right._  
 _I hope you had the time of your life._

 _It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right._  
 _I hope you had the time of your life._

Danziger gave Devon a final squeeze as the song ended. "Want to go inside?" he asked.

She nodded. Together they stepped back into the house and quietly shut the door.

* * *

Jose tossed and turned on the pull-out bed in his living room, while a strange evil slept in his own bed upstairs. But the circular motion of all his thoughts prevented sleep from visiting him.

He needed answers, and Paul obviously wasn't going to tell him anything. He could snoop around on his own, but what about the consequences? He would go to jail, he knew that. But wasn't he in jail now? Sort of? Should he wait for things to get better on their own? Perhaps Paul would find someone else to torture, and he would move out of his life as suddenly and as mysteriously as he had moved in.

As his thoughts chased themselves around in his brain, one stood out above all others, as clear as daylight. It wasn't really a thought, so much as a saying which made perfect sense right now.

 _My enemy's enemy is my friend._

Jose couldn't get that saying out of his mind, and his thoughts kept returning to the garage and the strange creature kept there. A Terrian, Paul had called it. Brian the Terrian. And Jose could have sworn that when Paul was torturing the creature, it had shown distinctly familiar emotions. Was it a man who had been experimented on, somehow? Were Paul and Brian escapees from a weird secret government mental institution? Could Brian talk?

Jose finally decided that there was only one way to find out.

He strode silently through the kitchen, opened the door to the garage and turned on the light. Brian looked up at him sadly.

Jose stepped inside and regarded him with fear and wonder. "What are you?" he finally asked.

Brian let out a sad trill and his head tilted to one side. "What can I do for you?" Jose asked, wondering if there was anything else he could say or do.

But strangely, Brian seemed to understand him. Its hands went to the metal collar. Jose licked his lips, and a wild idea came to him. He grabbed a small canister of oil, then left without another word and crept to the stairs.

Paul had superhuman powers, somehow. Jose knew this. But what Paul didn't seem to realize was that this was Jose's house, and had been for years. Jose knew how to walk up the stairs without making any noise. He'd done so on many occasions when sneaking out of the house at night to meet his secretary at the motel, then sneaking back in before dawn.

A sudden grief threatened to overwhelm him. Why had he done such things? he wailed to himself. Now his wife was gone, taking their daughter with her. He recalled again how deeply they'd both been hurt when they'd found out. Now the woman who used to be his secretary gave shallow pleasure at night to some other employer in Albuquerque, leaving him with a large, empty, hollow house. A house which had once been filled with laughter.

Jose bit back the tears and regarded the staircase like a dark mountain of his soul he had to climb. One last time, he thought to himself. All that knowledge of how to walk these stairs without making them creak, let me use that knowledge one last time. But this time, for something good. This time, to help, not to hurt.

Jose lifted his foot onto the first stair as the painful memories came back to him. Each step was another stab into his heart, forcing him to recall the life he'd lost, and just how he'd lost it.

He ascended the stairs in perfect silence, then tiptoed down the hallway, just like he'd used to do, to his bedroom. He applied the oil to the hinges, then slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open. His heart hammered away in his chest. He could almost believe that he would see his wife, his beloved Angela, lying in the bed again.

It wasn't Angela. It was Paul, the personification of evil. He was sprawled in his bed without a care in the world, snoring loudly.

And his gear set was on the bedside table. Its little green light was still on.

Jose crept across the room as slowly, and as quickly, as he dared. He gingerly picked up the gear set, then left. He didn't bother closing the door. He knew he'd have to make another trip to put the gear set back, and it would be easier if he only had to open the door once.

He stole back down the stairs and virtually ran to the garage. Brian looked up as he entered.

Jose took a good look at the gear. It had a myriad of buttons on the side, but none of them were marked. This reinforced his suspicion that Paul was a renegade, crazy governmental type, for whoever had designed this piece of machinery obviously didn't want just anyone using it. One had to be _taught_ how to use it.

But Paul had left it on after torturing the Terrian. Jose had the vague hope that this meant he didn't have to do anything. He should just be able to put it on and use it. He strapped it to his head, wondering where the microphone was. He figured it must be a really sensitive piece of equipment, really high-tech, powerful stuff. Not the sort of thing you could easily buy at Radio Shack. He absently spoke the only word he'd seen Paul use. "Charge."

The shock which tore through Brian stunned Jose, and he put his hand out in a vain effort to stop it. "Oh, God. Oh, sweet Jesus, I'm so sorry," he said frantically. "I didn't know. I…I mean…"

Brian looked at him sullenly, and Jose gulped once. "Please don't hurt me," he said. "Listen, I'm going to try to help you. I hope you can somehow help me."

If the fancy headphones could control the collar by voice, then perhaps there were other commands besides "Charge," Jose reasoned. He licked his lips and tried a few. "Soothe," he said. Nothing. "Comfort. Help." Still nothing. Okay, perhaps the collar was for torture only, and had no ability to comfort its victim. So how about getting the collar off, then?

"Unclasp," Jose said. Nothing happened. "Open. Open sesame. Um…unsnap. Let go. Release."

The collar opened with a _chink_ and fell to the floor.

Jose took a step back in terror as Brian stood up. He gulped once, hard, as Brian approached him, but Jose didn't move any further. He needed this Terrian on his side. He couldn't afford to run.

But Brian simply laid a hand across Jose's forehead, and he suddenly found himself in a strange, echoing, shifting dreamscape.

* * *

Alonzo erupted from his sleep with a yell, scaring the hell out of Devon and Danziger, who were stretched out on the floor.

"What?" they cried. "What is it?"

* * *

"Where am I?" Jose asked, spinning around and around inside a cave, lit by an orange, fiery glow. A dark-haired handsome young man suddenly appeared in front of him, and Jose felt a surge of relief coming from Brian, as if the man was a great friend who would put everything right.

"Who are you?" Alonzo asked the confused-looking Hispanic man in front of him, then winced as images forced themselves into his brain at high speed.

Jose stepped forward to help the dark-haired man, who had just doubled over in pain of some kind. But before he could reach him, a hand grabbed his shoulder and sent him crashing into the shelves along the garage wall.

Paul spun around and backhanded Brian viciously. He picked up the collar and placed it back on his neck, then kicked him several times.

Jose stood up. "Leave him alone!" he yelled. He was shaking with fear, with rage, with grief. With lots of things.

Paul turned around, a look of amusement on his face. "I hope you haven't damaged my gear set," was all he said. He held his hand out.

Jose thought for a second about resisting, about attempting to keep the gear set from Paul. But he knew that Paul was perfectly capable of killing him and then taking the gear off his dead body, so he decided to play for life. He took off the gear and tossed it Paul, who caught it deftly.

"Now," Paul said, advancing on Jose menacingly, "where did you suddenly get a backbone from, hmm?"

"I just wanted to know what he was." He? Jose thought. How did he know that Brian was a he?

Paul smirked. "You actually care for it, don't you?" But Jose didn't answer him. "Let me tell you one little word of advice, Senor Rodriguez," Paul continued. "You're wasting your compassion on Brian."

"Like I should be saving it for you?" Jose snorted.

"Like you should be saving it for yourself," Paul replied. "And if that's not enough, you might want to consider what the ruin of your reputation would do to your ex-wife and your daughter." He smiled.

Jose's face changed expression completely. "You leave them out of this," he said darkly. "Do what you like with me, but don't ever mention them again."

"Or what?" Paul asked with glee. "If you care for them, try watching your step a bit more. And since you like Brian so much, you can spend the night with him. Don't come out until I let you out, or I'll kill you."

Then Paul left, leaving the door to the kitchen wide open. Jose wondered what this meant, if the open door was some kind of a taunt.

Paul returned moments later with a strange-looking instrument in his right hand. Before Jose could react, Paul walked right up to him and placed it against his neck. There was a tiny _hiss_ , and Jose hit the floor.

Paul turned out the light, shut the door and locked it, then happily went back to bed.

* * *

"I only had contact for a moment," Alonzo breathed, as Devon and Danziger clung to his every word. "But the pictures I saw in my mind were so vivid. I know where the Terrian is being held!"

"Great, where?" Devon asked excitedly.

Alonzo just shook his head in consternation. "I can't name it or describe it. I saw a house on a nice street. I can see it so clearly. I could take you right there if I knew where it was."

"But you don't know where it is," Danziger said, the dejection clear in his voice.

"Well, no," Alonzo admitted. "But I'd recognize it."

Zero spoke up. "Since the three of you are awake, I might as well tell you that I've deciphered more of Paul's data chip."

"Okay," Devon said tentatively, wondering if she really wanted to hear more insanity of Paul's.

"First of all, Paul evidently has access to a Complete Archive," Zero reported.

"I'm not surprised, being that he's Council," Devon replied.

"A complete archive of what?" Danziger asked.

"Of everything," Devon explained. "Starting in the latter half of the 20th century, there was an explosion of technology and information. The human race's knowledge began to grow at an exponential rate, and the so-called "Renaissance Man" became obsolete. It was impossible for anyone to know everything, and the dangers and pitfalls of this patchwork of knowledge became a huge stumbling block to society.

"So starting around 2010, after they invented storage devices fast enough and compact enough, someone had the bright idea to create Complete Archives. Capital 'C,' capital 'A.' They're collections of thousands of terabytes of information, copies of every paper, every book, every web site, almost every iota of information that anyone has ever written anywhere, no matter how ridiculous or trivial. It was compiled and cross-tabulated. They were enormously expensive, but well worth it to the few who could afford it. They've been updated over the years. My father used one to help build the first space stations."

"Why does that matter now?" Danziger asked.

"Are you listening to her, John?" Alonzo asked. "A Complete Archive. Including information that's relevant here, in this time."

Danziger rubbed his chin as he realized what they were saying. "So Paul could use one of these archives to know all about the current political climate…"

Devon nodded. "And people. Their movements, their activities, using documents that haven't even been written yet. He could read a news article from tomorrow's newspaper and tell where people will be at a given time, and be there to meet them or manipulate them."

"Or kill them," Alonzo said. The other two looked at him in alarm, and realized he was right.

"What else, Zero?" Devon asked softly.

"Paul does indeed seem to have a particular meeting in mind," Zero said. "He talks a lot about a place called Satan's Abyss, sometimes referring to it as Satan's Chasm. It seems to be a literal place, not a metaphorical one. One particular passage from his private journal reads, 'I will strike with a mighty thunderbolt from the heart of Satan's Abyss. The most perfect, symbolic place I can think of to wipe out the evil of Eden Advance. The ancestor of evil goes there on the 3rd of July, and I will be there, waiting.'"

"The ancestor of evil?" Danziger repeated, his face screwed up in revulsion and confusion.

"That would be us," Devon said. "We're the evil ones."

"More specifically, you, Devon," Zero said. "Paul repeatedly refers to you as 'the evil.'"

"And the ancestor of evil would be…" Alonzo said, and they all stared at each other.

"A relative?" Devon asked, horrified. "Someone related to me?"

"Yes," Zero replied. "Paul's plan, apparently, is to show up at a predetermined place called Satan's Abyss, some time on July 3, 2000, and assassinate a distant ancestor of you, Devon Adair."

They could only stare at each other in horror. "That's…" Devon whispered. "That's the day after tomorrow." She looked up into Danziger's horrified eyes.

"We only have one day to find him!"


	4. Chapter 4

Carson rose blearily from the depths of sleep to the gentle tapping at his door. "C'm in," he croaked.

Danziger poked his head into the room. "Hey, we wanted to show you something."

Carson raised a single eyebrow, wondering why he felt like a deep sea diver who'd just wrestled a shark. Then he remembered – he _had_ wrestled a shark last night. He looked at the gear set beside his pillow, and remembered the things he'd done in virtual reality.

He moved a shaky finger to the gear set. "That," he said blearily, "was the best time I've ever had. I'll never have fun at a video arcade again."

"If you say so," Danziger said. "But hurry up and get dressed, okay?"

"Alllllllll righty," Carson said, throwing back his covers and wondering what the urgency was.

He stepped out of his room a few minutes later and looked around the house in shock. "When did all this happen?" he asked.

His stacks of paper and books had been neatened, some of them put away on shelves. The floor had been vacuumed, everything had been dusted, and the windows were spotless. Early morning sunlight streamed in from the patio.

"This is for helping us out so much," Danziger said. "We also made breakfast. Want some?"

"Yeah, sure," Carson stumbled to the table. "But why so early? I feel hung over."

"Because we have a deadline," Devon said.

As Carson ate, they told him what they could about Terrians, their mode of living and their ability to use dreams. They told him about Paul, and about Alonzo's dream last night, and the information they discovered. (And Danziger had told Alonzo the night before what he'd told Devon, that there could be a way home for them. Devon had insisted that he deserved to know.)

"So this guy Paul, he's like the Terminator or something?" Carson asked through a mouthful of bacon.

"I don't know what a Terminator is, but he's bad news," Danziger assured him. "If he succeeds in carrying out his plan, Devon…Devon could disappear in front of our eyes." His voice was very quiet. "We might very well do the same."

Carson took a good look at the three serious faces looking back at him. "Whoa," he whispered heartily. "What a scumbag. But wouldn't that make Paul disappear, too?"

"Very likely," Devon replied. "But we don't think he's acting rationally. I'm not sure that we can reason with him."

"Okay, so you saw the house where your Terrian buddy is being held in a dream," Carson said to Alonzo. "What's the address?"

"Address?" Alonzo asked.

"You know, the numbers on the front of the house."

Alonzo shrugged. "I wasn't really thinking about such things at the time. I could identify the house if I saw it, but I didn't get any address numbers."

"And this is our only lead, besides talking to the woman who was frightened by the Terrian last night," Devon said.

"Oh," Carson said, realizing why they were cleaning his house and fixing him breakfast and getting him up at the crack of dawn. "And I take it you want to drive around Santa Fe looking for this house."

"And to visit the woman," Danziger said.

"Describe this street to me," Carson told Alonzo.

"It looked very nice, kind of upscale. It went up a hill, but not a big hill, maybe fifteen degrees or so. Some of the houses were one-story, some were two-story. The house we want is a two-story, about two-thirds of the way down the block. I think I was seeing the street from the Terrian's perspective as he was taken to it. The house next door has a low, large plant with long flat pointed blades, near the curb."

"Yucca," Carson nodded.

"What, you don't like the sausage?" Devon asked.

"No, not yuck," Carson said. "Yuc _ca_. A yucca plant is a type of cactus. It's common around here. Is that what you saw?"

Alonzo shrugged. "Could be. I don't know what a yucca is. If I see one, I'll point it out."

Carson said, "Well, you just described about two-thirds of the streets in Santa Fe."

The others looked glum.

"Tell you what we'll do," Carson said. "Today's Sunday. This woman who made the 911 call last night, Maria Callabenos, she might go to church on Sunday mornings. So why don't we spend this morning looking for Alonzo's street. We'll drive out to Maria's house after lunch and see if she's home, then go back to searching for Alonzo's street if we don't know anything else after seeing Maria. Does that sound like a plan?"

They agreed, and Carson got ready. As they headed out the door moments later, he asked them, "By the way, have you guys ever seen _Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home_? You really ought to."

The front door closed behind them.

* * *

"Here's the first neighborhood," Carson said happily. "Let me know if you see your street."

"It's not really my street," Alonzo said, looking around intently. "But I don't see it here."

Alonzo and Devon were in the back. Danziger had a map of Santa Fe on his knees in the front passenger seat, marking off streets with a tiny red check mark.

Carson kept up an almost constant stream of chatter while they drove. "You know, I've never met any famous people while doing the cab thing," he said at one point. "But a friend of mine took Robert Mitchum to the airport once. But you guys wouldn't know who that is, would you?"

"No," Devon said.

Carson turned onto a new street. "I've heard there's a famous soap opera actor who lives on a ranch somewhere just outside Santa Fe."

"Who?" Alonzo asked conversationally.

"Dunno," Carson said. "I can't remember his name."

* * *

They tried to keep their spirits up during lunch, but it was hard at first. They were at another Taco Bell – not by choice, but because Carson had insisted it was the cheapest around, and he was trying to watch his cash flow.

All three of the Edenites felt the constant weight of their impending deaths hanging over their heads. Carson tried various ways to cheer them up, but nothing worked. None of his jokes were funny to them because they had no cultural context with which to appreciate them. He finally lapsed into silence, and this made Devon feel bad.

"Tell me, Carson," she said. "Why don't you seem to have other friends to be with? You're not acting like you had a lot to do this weekend."

Carson shrugged. "I dunno. I used to hang a lot with all my _WereChi_ friends, but we don't do much any more."

Devon had a puzzled look on her face. "I'm sorry," she leaned closer. " _WereChi_?"

"Yeah. W-E-R-E-C-H-I. It was my favorite TV show. It's short for _werechihuahau_. You know, kind of like a werewolf, but instead of a wolf, it's a little brown dog."

Devon just stared, wondering if he was putting them on, but Danziger and Alonzo began to snicker.

"No, really, it was a great TV show," Carson said indignantly. "The networks never gave it a chance. It was about a little chihuahua that grew fangs and went wild during the full moon. Every episode he met someone who was in trouble, and he used his powers to help them out."

Danziger and Alonzo burst out laughing.

"Yeah, well, I guess it does sound strange," Carson said. "But I liked it."

"So you made a lot of friends through the show?" Devon asked, trying as hard as she could to keep the smile off her own face.

"Yeah, and it was great, at first," Carson said, his face lighting up. "We'd talk about it on line, and we'd have parties, and go to movies. We started a whole club around it all. And we had a _great_ time! The best!"

"So what happened?" Devon asked.

Carson shrugged again. "I dunno. No, scratch that, I do know. We were all crazy, that's what happened."

"What do you mean?"

"We were into it for different reasons. I think everyone saw something in the show that they wanted, and they wanted it for themselves. We'd get into these vicious arguments – real knockdown dragouts, you know? – about which charcter was best, and which of the two dog actors they used (because they switched dogs halfway through the season) was the better one. It all just got so weird.

"And that's not all. Sometimes we'd get so _mean_ with each other, like the show was ours, and the whole fan experience was ours alone, and nobody else could touch what it meant to us."

"Sounds like a group of people you'd be glad to be away from," Danziger said.

"It's not that easy," Carson said. "You see, I was one of those people." His voice got very quiet, and he couldn't quite look at them. "I was just as bad as the rest. I wanted this club, this group of people, to fill a hole in my life, and I spent all my time clamoring for the spotlight instead of just enjoying their company." He shrugged and picked dejectedly at his food. "I got exactly what I wanted, and I found it was pretty hollow. For some reason, all those things we fought each other over were more important than making some real friendships and just letting go and having fun. There were times when I was a right asshole. And there were other times when I wasn't trying to hurt anyone, but I behaved like an ignorant dweeb. I mean, don't get me wrong, we had some _fantastic_ times. It was a really great crowd. But…but I can't help but feel like it could have been better, you know?"

"Everything ends some time, Carson," Devon said. "You should know that."

"It's not the ending that gets me down," he replied. "I just feel like I messed up a lot when I finally found myself to be a part of something really great, and I regret that. I wish I could do it differently, knowing what I know now. I mean, who knows when something like that will happen again?"

"Did you learn something from it?" Danziger suddenly asked.

"Yeah, I suppose," Carson said. "But learning something after you needed to know it doesn't really help a whole lot, does it?"

Danziger laughed, and it was that deep, mischievous laugh of his, the one that sounded like he knew something which you didn't. "The first time we ever learn _anything_ , no matter how big or small, it's right after we just needed it."

Carson shrugged, and gave a little smile. "I suppose that's true."

* * *

As Jose dialed the number, he marveled at how his hands had stopped shaking. He wondered why.

"Hey, Carl," he said. "I'm going to have to cancel our golf game today." A pause. "Yeah, I'm not feeling real well. Aches all over, chills." Another pause. "Yeah, I'll do that. Maybe next week, okay? Sure. Talk to you later." He hung up.

"Good," Paul said. "Are there any other social engagements I need to know about?"

"No," Jose said, unable to look at him.

"All right," Paul replied brightly. "Since there's nothing we can do today, let's see what's on TV!"

* * *

"The morning has been a complete waste!" Danziger complained as they left the restaurant.

"No it hasn't," Devon said. "Every street we eliminate brings us one street closer to our goal."

Danziger sighed. He tried to see it that way, he really did, but he just couldn't.

As they headed to the cab, Alonzo noticed a stand of brochures at a bus stop a few meters away. "Look at that," he told Danziger. "We could go to all those places if we were tourists." The brochures told of wonders like Carlsbad Caverns, the Ice Caves, the Sandia Tram, the Miraculous Spiral Staircase, Bisti Wilderness, and river rafting on the Rio Grande through the Taos Plateau, among many other things.

"Yeah," Danziger said sadly. "And most of those things won't exist in our time. I wonder if G889 will ever be a tourist spot, like New Mexico is now."

"Just not the nexus caves," Alonzo said as they climbed in. "We definitely need to keep the tourists away from those."

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Carson said, "You know, I got four _Star Wars: The Phantom Menace_ posters from Taco Bell? 'Kentucky Fried Taco Hut,' I like to call it, because Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are all owned by the same people. Pepsi, I think."

"That's fascinating," Devon murmured.

* * *

Maria answered the door to find a dark-haired man and woman before her. "Hello, are you Maria Callabenos?" Devon asked.

"Ka- _ya_ -ben-yos," Maria said pleasantly. "The double-L is pronounced as a 'Y.'"

"Callabenos," Devon said again, pronouncing it correctly. "My name is Devon Adair, this is Carson Muller."

"My double-L is pronounced as an 'L,' Carson said with a smile. "How do you do?" He shook her hand.

"We're reporters from the _Free World Journal_ ," Devon said. "We wondered if we could perhaps talk to you about your experience last night."

Maria shrugged. "All right. Come on in."

They sat in her living room and Maria told them exactly what happened as she played with Tony, her six-year-old son. Devon found herself having to keep her emotions in check as she saw this. It reminded her of Uly, when she ruthlessly could not think about him in any way. Not just yet.

"Right now, I'm mostly concerned for Tony, you see?" Maria said. "If it were just me, alone, that would actually be okay. I'm not afraid for myself. But when you have a child, suddenly everything becomes much more frightening, you know?"

"I know exactly what you mean," Devon said. "Believe me. So, after the second man came to get the first one, he ran around to the side of the house?"

"This side," she pointed. "The one where the dirt road goes by."

"And you didn't see where he went after that?"

"No," Maria said. "The police, they searched the woods for a while, but they didn't find anything. I don't know if he's going to come back."

Devon wished she could put this woman's mind at ease without telling her that she knew the man in question, and that he was miles away by now. She thought about the fact that the Terrian was almost certainly held captive in a nice house in Santa Fe, and she knew there must have been a vehicle involved.

"Is it possible," Devon said slowly, "that when the two men ran off, they got into a car that was waiting for them and drove away?"

Maria shrugged. "I suppose so. But why would a man who has a car be hiding in my shed?"

"I don't know," Devon lied. "But the whole thing sounds strange. Why would one man hide in your shed and another come to get him?"

"That's right, that's what I told the police," Maria said. "It didn't make any sense to me. And the man in the shed, he looked so strange."

"Maria, can I ask you to do something?" Devon asked.

She nodded.

"I want you, please, to think back to the moment when you saw the second man run into your yard. You ran to the back door and shot at him."

"That's right, I shot at him."

"And did you see anything else?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you shot at the man, you could see the dirt road beyond your fence, couldn't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm sure you didn't notice the road at the time, because you were concentrating on the man. But now I want you to concentrate on the road. If you can recall that scene, and look beyond the man to the road, is there anything there?"

Maria thought for just a second, then her eyes grew large. "Yes! Yes, there's a big black sport utility vehicle, one of those off-road cars, coming down the road! And…and I think the man is looking at it as he runs away!"

Devon and Carson exchanged a quick glance.

"Does anyone around here drive a car like that, that you know of?" Carson asked.

"No, not just like that," Maria said. "You think this car took them away?"

"I'm almost certain it did," Devon said.

"I don't suppose you could possibly have seen a license number, could you?" Carson asked.

"No," Maria shook her head. "Should I tell the police about this?"

"I think you should," Devon said. "That's all I can think of to ask you. Maria, I'm very sorry this happened. It's always traumatic. I hope the police catch the man."

"I hope so, too, because I don't know how many other people he will frighten, you know?" she said.

Carson and Devon said their good-byes, thanked her for the interview, and left.

* * *

"Here comes a triple lutz followed by a triple toe loop, and…perfect!"

Jose had never felt so surreal in his life. He sat in one easy chair, Paul in another, and the Terrian crouched on the carpet to one side. On the screen, Michelle Kwan glided effortlessly on the adoration of the crowd.

"Ice skating!" Paul snorted. "I can't believe that the only thing we have to watch is ice skating!"

Jose shrugged. "Football doesn't start for another four months, and hockey and basketball are already over."

Paul stuffed more popcorn into his mouth and watched the screen in disgust. "Got any good movies?" he asked.

* * *

They stopped the search when the sun went down. Alonzo wasn't sure he could identify the street in the dark, and the exhaustion was catching up to them in dramatic fashion, for they had hardly slept the night before. They returned to Carson's house utterly dejected. Even Carson knew better than to try to engage them in conversation.

"I've looked at so many streets today, I feel like I'm losing my mind," Alonzo said as he sat on the couch. "They're all starting to blur together."

"Are you sure you didn't just miss it, then?" Danziger asked sarcastically. "I mean, maybe the image you got was just something you dreamed. Maybe-"

"I know what I saw!" Alonzo shot back hotly. "I can spot the damned street. Leave me alone."

"Please," Devon said quietly. "This is our last-" She couldn't continue. They looked at her. "Let's not spend our last night bickering. Please."

Alonzo and Danziger just looked away from each other.

"We've eliminated about 80 per cent of the possibilities," Devon said. "And we don't know when this event is going to take place. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will be tomorrow evening. So let's not give up, yet."

"Any idea what Satan's Chasm could mean?" Danziger asked Carson.

"No," he shook his head solemnly. "I searched every internet engine I could find, but nothing comes up. I don't know what Paul could mean by that."

"Well, let's get some rest," Devon said. "We'll resume our search at dawn."

* * *

Tomas flipped the "Open" sign on his pawn shop door at 8:00 AM sharp, just as he had every working morning for the last decade. At 8:01 AM, a thin, blonde man walked in. The bell over the door jangled brightly.

"What can I do for you?" Tomas asked.

Paul's gaze ran swiftly over the various guns for sale. "I'd like a box of those shotgun shells, and one of those boxes of ammo right there!" he said with a smile and a wink. Tomas smiled back and put them on the counter.

Paul hesitated, as if trying to make up his mind, then said, "Would you mind if I took a look at that sleek baby right there?" he pointed at a rifle with a scope mounted on the wall. Its price tag read, "$459." "I've been thinking about getting one of those for a long time."

"Sure thing," Tomas said, and retrieved it for him.

"Wow," Paul said, whistling appreciatively. "I like this. You wouldn't be willing to go for anything less that $459, would you?"

Tomas shook his head. "Nope, sorry. I can't really haggle my prices."

Paul clicked his lips and sighed, acting the concerned customer all over. "Well, I tell you what. I still want it. Give me an application for it."

"You don't need an application for a rifle sir, just for a handgun that could be concealed," Tomas said.

"Great!" Paul's face lit up. "Let's do this!"

"Yes, sir!" Tomas said and moved to the cash register. Then he looked up just in time to see Paul load the rifle and disengage the safety.

Tomas hurled himself through the door behind the counter into his back store room, the _CRACK_ of the rifle resounding in his ears. The bullet tore a hole through the wall where he'd been standing.

Paul grimaced at his miss, but shrugged. He scooped up the bullets and, just for good measure, the shotgun shells, and walked calmly out the door. As he left, he took a bow out of his pocket and slipped it on the rifle's barrel to make it look as if it was a present for someone, then waltzed gaily down the street. He stopped briefly to let a woman and her little girl step in front of him, smiling grandly as he did. The little girl smiled back.

Paul walked around the corner into the parking lot of the Greater National Bank and within seconds had climbed into the back of an SUV.

Jose came out about a minute later and climbed into the driver's seat. Without turning around, he asked, "Did you get what you needed?"

"I sure did," Paul answered. "Let's go."

Jose Rodriguez, respected officer of the Greater National Bank of Santa Fe, dutifully waited until the police cars sped past before pulling into the street and heading in the opposite direction.

* * *

"This is it!" Alonzo yelled excitedly. "This is the street I saw in my dream! These are the houses!"

"These houses?" Danziger asked. "These houses look like the houses we've been passing all morning."

"I'm telling you, this is where he lives!" Alonzo insisted, then smiled when he saw Danziger's grin. The mechanic was pulling a Morgan on him.

Carson pulled up to the curb, just between the house Alonzo pointed out and the one next door. Any person looking out of either house would assume the cab was there for the occupants of the other house. It was a great way of "hiding" between houses. He'd used the method several times to snatch quick naps on slow days.

"Well?" Carson asked, his heart racing. "How are we gonna do this?"

* * *

"You told me I needed an application for a rifle when I didn't!" Paul said, stuffing supplies into the backpack Jose had given him.

"Sorry," Jose shrugged. "I'm not a lawyer."

"Well, I got what I needed, and we get to take one more trip to-"

 _Ding dong_.

Jose and Paul looked at each other.

"Go see who it is and send them away," Paul said.

Jose walked to the front door and opened it.

"Hey, someone call a cab?" Carson asked.

* * *

Danziger and Alonzo lifted the handle to the gate and walked into the back yard as if they belonged there, then quietly tried the back door. It opened, and they looked in just in time to see the back of Paul Baxter. He was stalking up to the front door, where Carson was putting his motor mouth to good use.

They stepped inside, eyeing the high-powered rifle on the living room table. Alonzo quickly stole through the kitchen to the garage to get a look at the car, and was surprised to find the Terrian there. It looked up and recognized Alonzo, and gave a small trill.

"Hang in there, buddy," Alonzo mouthed to him, noting that the car in the garage matched the description given by Maria.

"Yeah, 2313 Desert Sun Drive, that's the one," Carson insisted, even showing them the call-in order he'd filled out. "That's where I am, this is where you are, and my dispatch is never wrong, I can promise you that, sir."

"Look, you little snot!" Paul exploded. "We didn't order a cab! Now scram!"

"Why don't you put your hands up, instead?" Danziger asked.

Paul spun around to see that Danziger had picked up the rifle and had it aimed at his chest. Alonzo had Devon's pistol aimed at the same spot.

Jose's eyes grew large. Carson's did too when he saw the guns, and he pushed the front door shut, making sure he was on the outside. It closed, leaving Alonzo and Danziger in a staring match with Jose and Paul. The living room table was between them.

"I don't believe it," Paul said, his jaw hanging open. "Where have you people been the last couple of days?"

"Down against the wall, both of you," Danziger said. "Face down, hands above your heads."

Paul smirked. "You know, I really hate to break it to you, but that rifle isn't loaded."

"Yes, it is," Danziger said.

"My gun certainly is," Alonzo said darkly.

Paul started to jump forwards. Danziger fell for the feint and pulled the trigger, not realizing that Paul was wanting him to do just that. The Councilman leaped to one side and the shot hit the front door. Paul viciously kicked the living room table, hitting both Danziger and Alonzo in the knees and sending them backwards. Alonzo's pistol went off, sending a shot through the ceiling.

Devon heard the shots and raced out of the cab, where she had been waiting so she could follow Paul in case he tried to drive away. "Danziger!" she shouted. Carson just looked at her imploringly, hoping she wasn't about to go into the house.

Jose ran for the hallway, but Paul just smiled and fought like a madman. Not content with having kicked the table into his enemies, he picked it up and flipped it over on them, then jumped on it, a grin on his face the whole time. Danziger rolled out of the way, but Alonzo was caught beneath the table and yelled as all of Paul's weight smashed into his body from head to toe.

Danziger came up whirling with the rifle, using it as a club and aiming for Paul's skull. But he was distracted by the front door opening, and Paul whipped his hand back to catch the rifle and he pulled it out of his hands. They both turned to see Devon in the doorway.

Devon turned to look over her shoulder and shouted for all she was worth, acting as if there were people behind her. "He's right here! Send three men around the back! The rest of you get in here!"

Paul grabbed his pack and the rest of his ammunition and sprinted towards the garage, bowling Danziger over along the way.

"Get back!" Danziger shouted at Devon, desperately trying to get off the floor. "He's going for the car! Follow him!"

They heard the garage door roll up, and Devon knew Danziger was right. "Carson, the cab!" she shouted, running back towards the vehicle. "We have to know where he goes!" She sprinted to the car, and Carson, after gesticulating wildly for a second, followed.

Jose's SUV, with Paul at the wheel, burst out of the garage, but Paul didn't head for the street. He spun the wheel hard to the right and shot across Jose's front lawn, aiming for Devon as she ran for the cab. She spun on her heel and ran back towards the front door, pulling Carson with her. The SUV raced by inches away, hopped the curb and sped down the street. By the time Devon looked up, it had taken the corner and was gone.

She sighed and buried her face in the grass.

"Come on," Carson said. "Let's get inside. Most of the neighbors are probably at work, but someone might have seen."

* * *

"That was a pretty bold trick you pulled," Danziger said as Devon applied some antiseptic to his cuts. Jose brought some bandages and another bottle of antiseptic for Alonzo.

"I'm surprised he fell for it," Devon said. "Do I look like a military commando leader?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Danziger asked.

They had found Jose in a back room, begging them not to kill him. He had insisted he knew nothing of Paul, and they believed him. The Terrian was gone from the garage. Once again, he had been taken by Paul.

"So why were you helping Paul if you didn't know him?" Danziger asked.

"Well, it's kind of hard to say," Jose replied hesitantly.

"Look, we're not the police," Devon said. "We don't know you, we're not after you. In fact, we come from the same place that Paul did. All we need are answers. If we don't get them, someone's going to die today."

Jose pursed his lips. "I'm vice president of the Greater National Bank of Santa Fe," he said. "I've been embezzling money from my bank for the past year. Paul showed up at my front door Saturday night and said he knew all about it. He said he'd expose me unless I did everything he asked."

Danziger's gear beeped, and he put it on. "Sir," Zero told him privately, "Paul's records indicate that he knew of Jose Rodriguez's embezzlement activities because of a news article dated December 10, 2000, which details Jose's arrest for the crime."

Danziger glanced briefly at Jose. "Thanks," he said.

"Jose, I don't care one bit about your embezzling," Devon said sincerely. "You keep doing it with my blessing if you want to. But please, tell us everything you can about Paul's plans. We must know what they are."

"I don't know," Jose said, his hands spread wide. "I honestly don't know. Paul wouldn't tell me anything. He wouldn't even tell me where Brian came from."

"Brian?" Alonzo asked.

"The Terrian," Jose said. "Paul named him Brian." Jose quickly told them all that Paul had done during the last two days.

"So Paul distinctly said that his big event was this afternoon?" Devon asked.

"That's what he said," Jose replied.

"Do you know where Satan's Abyss is, or Satan's Chasm?" Danziger asked. "Did Paul ever say anything about such a place?"

Jose shook his head. "I've never heard of it."

"Zero, have you uncovered any more of Paul's journals?"

"Nothing which provides any information we don't already know," Zero replied. "There is one final area of his journals that I am trying to decipher. So far, Paul has not mentioned the location of Satan's Abyss."

"But that's all we have left to go on!" Devon said, knocking her fists against her forehead. "We've got to figure it out!"

"I don't know of any chasms around here," Jose said. "We got mesas, rivers, canyons." He shrugged.

Devon thought for a moment. "Zero, what are some synonyms for _chasm_ ," she asked.

"Do I look like Data from _Star Trek_?" Zero asked.

"Just a minute, I have a thesaurus," Jose said. He went to his study. The only sound was the loud ticking from the clock on the mantle, as if marking off the slow movement of the sunshine across the carpet. Devon glanced worriedly at the clock. It was 8:45 AM.

"Here we are," Jose returned, thumbing the thesaurus open. He handed Danziger a large map of New Mexico. Danziger opened it up and spread it on the table which they had righted after Paul upended it. As he unfolded, Jose read from the thesaurus. " _Chasm_. See _abyss_." He thumbed backwards. " _Abyss_. Chasm, pit, channel, arroyo, canyon, trench." Jose shrugged. "Anything useful there?"

"You mentioned there are canyons around," Danziger said, tracing his fingers over the map. "Anything called Satan's Canyon, by any chance?"

"No," Jose said. "I doubt that there would be, anyway, because almost all the names around here are American Indian or Spanish."

Devon, Danziger, Alonzo, Jose and Carson looked at each other suddenly, all having the thought at the same time. But it was Jose who breathed the word out loud, in a whisper of realization. "Diablo," he said softly, and his finger tapped a point on the map just outside Santa Fe. " _Diablo_ is Spanish for _the Devil_."

The others bent to see where he was pointing, and saw that his finger rested on a little line labeled _Diablo Canyon_.

* * *

Paul plodded over the soft sand, dragging the Terrian behind him. "I don't believe this," he said, airing his long list of grievances to the open air. "I just don't believe this! I gotta keep you alive to sell you! But I can't store you in someone's shed, because look what happened last time! I can't keep you at Casa Jose, because the colonists are there! I can't keep you out of my sight, because you might run off or die on me! So I gotta drag you up to the top of this Godforsaken canyon with me!"

He suddenly stopped and glared at the Terrian. " _You_ are a _nuisance_!" He immediately started walking again, making sure the Terrian followed. He kept an avid eye out for any other hikers who might spot the Terrian and wonder what it was. But no one else was about in the Monday morning sunshine.

"You know, there's one good thing about all this," Paul said to the Terrian. "Once I do the deed, I'll be able to go back to Jose's place, because the colonists won't be there any more. They won't be anywhere!"

He giggled at the thought.

* * *

"Come on, Carson, I thought you knew the way!" Alonzo said.

"I did know the way," Carson defended himself with exasperation. "But the road I used to know isn't there any more! They've built a new neighborhood there!" He hit the brakes and did his third U-Turn in a row.

"Did anyone know this was national U-Turn day?" Alonzo asked.

"We do now," Devon replied.

Carson sped up and down the highway twice more, but the road he was looking for persisted in not being there.

"We need to find another way," Danziger said. "Right now."

Carson thought quickly, then did one last U-Turn. "Alternate route to Diablo Canyon, coming up," he said. "But hold onto your seat belts. This is going to get bumpy."

* * *

The Edenites desperately tried to keep their teeth intact as the cab rattled violently down the dirt road. Luckily, Zero, who was the only one doing a lot of talking, didn't have the problem of stuttering his words.

"I have deciphered the final piece of Paul's data chip," Zero said. "Although it doesn't confirm that Diablo Canyon is Satan's Abyss, Paul does provide a rough map that corresponds to Diablo Canyon perfectly, along with a detailed description of his plan. Apparently, an ancestor of Devon Adair will arrive at the canyon with a group of people around 1:00 PM. Paul intends to assassinate this person with a rifle from the top of the western cliff. He then plans to use his gear set to block the cell phone transmissions of the group to prevent them calling for help, allowing him time to get away.

"He chose the western cliff because the land slopes down over the course of several miles to the north, allowing him to hike to that spot without having to climb. It also affords him a view of the entire area behind him in case anyone approaches his position."

"Why d-don't we just war-arn this group of p-people to stayay away?" Alonzo asked.

"We can't change hist- _uh!_ -history," Devon answered, gripping the door handle. "And they prob-bably wouldn't believe us, anyway. We've g-got to stop Paul."

* * *

Carson skidded to a stop above a wide, dry, sandy river bed. Two cliffs rose out of the sand about 150 meters away. Diablo Canyon. The air was already very warm. The time was 9:30 AM.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Carson asked nervously as he opened the trunk.

"As sure we can ever be," Devon answered as they pulled out their equipment. Three sets of climbing gear from Jose, including canteens full of water. "Paul is already on his way up there, and he's going to be looking for people following him, especially now, so we can't take the same route he did. Our only choice is to surprise him, and that means climbing."

"Do you know how to climb?"

"We've had some experience through necessity," Devon answered. "We'll make it up there. We have to."

She turned to him. "Carson." She held his hands in hers. "This is almost certainly good-bye. Whether we make it or not, we won't be coming back."

Carson tried to smile. "So I'll never know what happened."

"No," she said. "I'm afraid not. But you have saved our lives over the past two days, and we can't thank you enough for that."

Carson just shrugged, obviously unused to being complimented. "Well, get on up there and kick this guy's ass, okay?"

"That's the idea." Danziger shook his hand.

Alonzo shook his hand also. "Thanks for everything," he said. "Now go back to Santa Fe and get some sleep."

"Oh, man," Carson shook his head. "I don't think I could get any sleep after today."

"No, I mean it," Alonzo said. "Take a sedative if you have to, but get some sleep."

"Okay," Carson nodded. "I can do that. Here, you guys better drink some water from the jug before you go."

They each drank as deeply as they dared from a jug of water in the trunk which they'd brought for this purpose, then waved good-bye to Carson. He watched them cross the barbed wire fence and trudge onto the sandy riverbed until they had disappeared into the canyon.

He turned his cab around and headed home.

* * *

Paul lay sprawled in the grass and dirt, finally getting his strength back after his forced hike to the top of the cliff. He had come the easy way, but he felt like he'd just run a marathon. He didn't want to admit it, but the constant running and fighting recently, plus getting shot twice, had really taken its toll.

But now he just enjoyed the fact that after all the planning, after all the detail, after following up all the clues in his Complete Archive, he had finally reached his destination. He felt giddy.

He glanced at Brian. His pet Terrian looked anything _but_ giddy. The heat, the repeated shocks, the fatigue, and the prolonged separation from G889 had all taken its toll, and Brian looked like he wasn't going to last much longer. Paul shrugged. He just had to last long enough.

"You better not die on me," Paul said with a smirk, then shook his head when Brian offered no response. He took a long look back along the route he had hiked to get up here, and saw no one following him. He felt relieved. The uncanny persistence of the Edenites, and their ability to dog him to the very end, was beginning to get on his nerves. He'd almost expected them to come traipsing across the land after him, but there was no sign of them.

He twisted his head to look below, and his heart started hammering with vicious excitement when he saw that three cars had just arrived. His target was here!

He slowly drew out his rifle and waited. And waited. And waited.

"What's taking them so long?" he asked aloud.

Minutes later, although it felt like hours to Paul, a group of people began walking out into the river bed, heading for the canyon.

He licked his lips and peered through the scope, searching for the one he wanted. He knew the face, but the person wasn't- ah, there you are! he thought to himself. I've got you.

Paul didn't fire. He gulped once, his finger tight on the trigger, but nothing happened. He set the rifle down and rolled onto his back, staring into the sky.

There was one thing worrying him. It had been worrying him since the beginning, but he had always shoved it to the back of his mind, because it was a bad thought and bad thoughts interfered with his fun! But the bad thought which he'd tried so hard to make disappear now prevented him from carrying out his final task.

The thought blazed through his brain now, no longer ignored. _What if I disappear, too?_

If he chopped down the Adair family tree, what would happen to himself? No Eden Project. No Council assignment to stop Eden Project. (Well, okay, to _monitor_ Eden Project. He actually hadn't been authorized to stop anything, but this was so much more fun!) No going back in time to have fun and erase the betrayers. Did that mean no more Paul Baxter? Or did it mean Paul Baxter stuck back on the space stations in the 22nd century? Or did it mean Paul Baxter stuck inside some kind of paradox with no way out until the universe came to an end?

He watched a few vultures circling in the sky, trying to make sense of it all. He wondered if the vultures were circling for him.

He suddenly smiled. What did it matter? He wasn't turning back now, that was for sure! He didn't come this far just to chicken out at the last moment! And if he got stuck inside a paradox, then he'd get a first-hand view of what the inside of a paradox looked like. Hah! Not many others could put _that_ on their resume.

He turned over and sighted along the rifle again, but the target was inside the canyon, now. He'd meditated too long.

No problem, he told himself. He would just do the deed when they walked back to the vehicles. He took a swig from his canteen and waited as patiently as he could. Which was to say, not very patiently at all.

* * *

"I'm beginning to think this was a mistake," Danziger said. He desperately searched for a new handhold. The top of the cliff was agonizingly close, only a dozen meters away, yet it remained obstinately out of reach.

They had made excellent progress at first, virtually rocketing up the canyon wall. Now it was just after noon, and Paul was almost certainly lying in position by now, and they were having difficulty reaching the very top.

"Too late to turn back now," Devon said. "Although now I'm glad we mountain-climbed twice to look for mountain passes when we were trapped during our first winter. Otherwise we wouldn't know what to do now."

"They're here," Alonzo said, looking below.

Devon and Danziger followed his gaze and saw a group of people strolling through the canyon. Although they appeared as tiny dots from their height, they didn't appear to be equipped for anything more than a short day trip. It had to be the group Paul was waiting for.

"We're too late," Devon said, hoping it wasn't true.

"Paul hasn't done anything yet," Danziger reassured her. "They're not acting like people who've been shot at. We've still got time."

"They've spotted us," Alonzo said. "Everyone smile. Our picture's being taken."

Devon felt a cold, prickly wave of emotion run over her. One of those people down there, far below, was her distant ancestor, and she would forever be a tiny speck in their photo album. "I wonder which one it is," she said.

"Doesn't matter," Danziger said. "No way to tell, anyway. Here, I think I've found a way. Follow me."

* * *

Paul took a deep breath and tried to keep calm as he looked below, waiting for the one he wanted. He kept his gear set ready to activate the moment after he fired, to prevent them using their primitive communication devices to call for help.

He saw the target, the ancestor of Devon Adair, and slowly squinted down the scope. His finger tightened on the trigger. Brian gave a little trill.

A warning bell went off in Paul's mind. Brian hadn't spoken for the longest time, and the noise he'd just made sounded almost like a happy one. Paul turned to look at Brian and saw Alonzo Solace about 25 meters away, silently trying to tell the Terrian to be quiet. Alonzo glanced over and saw Paul's startled expression, then threw himself behind one of several large rocks which dotted the landscape.

"Argh!" Alonzo shouted. "He saw me! Keep down!"

"You know, you people have actually earned my admiration!" Paul shouted, shifting his body to aim the rifle at them, hoping one of them would accidentally show themselves so he could pick them off, yet trying to keep low himself, because he knew they'd be armed.

"Paul, listen to me," Devon shouted. "We know what you're trying to do. Don't you understand that you'll be destroying yourself as well as us?"

"I don't think so," Paul called back. "I've already figured all this out. Don't pretend to know more than me."

As he was talking, Alonzo again peeked out, just a tiny bit, and made eye contact with the Terrian. Alonzo pointed at Paul, and made punching motions with his fist.

"Why would you want to hurt us, Paul?" Devon continued. "What did we ever do to you?"

"You betrayed the Council!" Paul shot back. "You forfeited everything when you did that!"

The Terrian just looked confused. Alonzo tried as hard as he could to dream past the shock collar, and again pointed at Paul. "Please," he whispered. "Just a little bit."

The Terrian slowly stood up.

Paul didn't see this, and he came to a decision at the same time. He reasoned that Devon and the others would disappear as soon as he eliminated her ancestor, so he could take care of the threat from the colonists simply by completing his mission. It was perfect. He turned around and again aimed at his target below.

Then he heard Brian approaching, just few paces away. Paul angrily keyed a command into his gear and yelled, "Charge!" Brian trilled in pain and collapsed.

Exactly as the Edenites had planned.

The moment Paul gave the command to the shock collar, the frequency he was using appeared in the visuals of their own gear sets. Danziger immediately keyed his gear to the same frequency and said, "Release."

The shock collar fell off. Alonzo closed his eyes.

Paul grunted when he saw the collar hit the ground, realizing instantly what had just happened. "That was pretty clever for a bunch of rebels," he called back. He turned to face them again, rising to his knees, and then to his feet as he was unable to resist the taunt, as if daring them even to attempt to shoot him. "But it's useless! Do you hear? I've still got the magic bones! Your little pet can't lift a finger to hurt me!"

"He's not going to hurt you!" Danziger called back.

Paul suddenly heard a tiny _click_ , somewhere just below his chin. "Huh?" he asked.

"He's just gonna put a little something on you," Danziger finished.

Paul reached up to his neck and found metal where his adam's apple should have been, just as he felt his own gear set plucked off his head from behind. He spun to face the Terrian, who was smiling at him and tossing his gear set a few meters away.

Devon keyed her gear. "Charge."

Paul screamed as the electricity seared through him. His back arched and his arms flew out. He took the pain, then turned around, his face a mask of rage. "I'll get you for thi-"

"Charge," Alonzo said. Paul suffered again. Still he didn't fall, but attempted to bring the rifle to bear on them, advancing on them even now.

"Charge," Danziger said.

Paul screamed again and fell to his knees, but there was still no repentance, no remorse. Only a fury to strike back at those who were hurting him.

"You want to get in on the act, Zero?" Danziger asked.

"Normally, I'm not allowed to harm people," Zero replied. "But what the hell. Charge."

Paul yelled again and finally fell face-down into the dirt, where he lay moaning.

They walked up to him, kicked his rifle away and tied his hands behind his back. He tried to resist only once, but then finally accepted that no matter how much he hated it, suffering was only a word away.

"Are you okay, buddy?" Alonzo asked the Terrian. It trilled at him, and Alonzo shook his head in wonder.

"Do you know what this Terrian did for us?" he asked.

"Yeah, he took one last charge so we could get the frequency of the shock collar," Danziger answered.

"There's more," Alonzo said. "When Jose released his collar the first time, he had the chance to go home, back to G889. But he knew that if he did, he would have stranded us here. He chose to stay a captive of Paul when he had the chance to escape, just to help us out."

The others smiled, and Danziger shook his head. "The Terrians amaze me more all the time," he said. "So we _can_ go home?"

Alonzo nodded. "We can go home." Then he touched the Terrian on the chest and dreamed, just for a moment. Far away in his house, Carson rolled over in his sleep and heard the message that they had succeeded, all was well, and they were going home, now.

Alonzo opened his eyes and nodded. Keeping a watch on Paul, who was now thoroughly tied up and wasn't speaking (he seemed to be pouting), they stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down at the group of people leaving the sandy river bed of Diablo Canyon behind. "We did it." Devon was smiling broadly, and she began to laugh. "We did it!"

"We sure did, Devon," Danziger said.

"Come on," Alonzo said with a grin. "Let's get back to the future!"

"Wasn't that a stage play?" Devon asked.

"Nah, I think it was a book or something," Danziger said.

The Terrian made a tiny motion with his head and his hands, and a white tunnel opened up beside them, flashing with electricity.

"So what do you think, Devon?" Danziger asked her. "If we can survive on old Earth, you think New Pacifica has a chance?"

"Absolutely," she replied. The she looked into his eyes and suddenly found herself thinking about the entire journey that had led her to this point, and about all the things that Eden Advance had learned and all the ways they'd grown. She thought about the mistakes they'd all made, the times they'd gotten on one another's nerves, and all the good times they'd had. "And you know something else?" she said.

"What?" Danziger asked.

"I really _have_ had the time of my life."

Danziger just smiled and escorted her through the spider tunnel. Alonzo followed with Paul, Zero's head slung on his back, and the Terrian came last.

Far below, a small caravan of cars pulled away, flashing in the hot summer sun.

The End

...

Right now, get one of four specially-made "Retrospective" posters from Kentucky Fried Taco Hut for only $2.99 with the purchase of any large drink. Supplies are limited, so hurry!

(If the person taking your order at Kentucky Fried Taco Hut has no idea what you're talking about, insist that they're wrong and _demand_ your poster, and refuse to leave until you get it! Remember, the customer is always right.)

* * *

Descriptions of the land surrounding Diablo Canyon (such as the "fact" that the western edge slopes down gradually), and the description of the cliff tops of Diablo Canyon, could be completely false. Whatever I didn't know or couldn't remember correctly, I just made up.

* * *

 _To those of you who were in Diablo Canyon on Monday, July 3, 2000:_

If you wish to believe that you are a distant ancestor of Devon Adair, please feel free.

If you wish to believe that you are _not_ a distant ancestor of Devon Adair, and that you would _never_ be a distant ancestor of Devon Adair even if someone paid you a million dollars, also, please feel free.

If you wish to believe that you turn into a werechihuahua whenever there's a full moon and terrorize people on subway trains by trying to bite their ankles, then again, please feel free.

* * *

 _To those of you who weren't in Diablo Canyon on Monday, July 3, 2000, and would like to know that the hell I'm talking about:_

A group of us visited _Earth 2_ filming sites in New Mexico in July 2000. On the afternoon of Monday, July 3, 2000, we visited Diablo Canyon, where they filmed the episode "Water." The road we had used in 1997 was gone, replaced by a new housing edition, and we executed several U-turns on the highway looking fruitlessly for this road. We found another road which led to the canyon, but it was very bumpy, just as I described in the story. At about 1:00 PM, we parked the cars, walked across a wide sandy expanse, and hiked into the canyon for a short distance. The canyon walls are relatively easy to climb at the base, but they get much steeper near the top. On the left canyon wall (the left side as one walks into the canyon), three people were scaling the canyon wall using climbing equipment, and they had almost reached the top. They were so far away that we couldn't tell what they looked like, but I think they were two men and a woman.

* * *

I find it very ironic that, without any planning whatsoever, the story I wrote for the one-year anniversary of EvacPod Con ("Heroes") and the story I wrote for the one-year anniversary of New Pacificon 2000 ("Retrospective") both have characters or situations which parody science fiction fans and the fan experience. I have never done this in any of the other 14 _Earth 2_ stories I've written, just these two. (Personally, I blame it all on the Lamplighter Inn.)

I also find it ironic that "Heroes" was set 200 years **after** _Earth 2_ , and "Retrospective" was set 200 years **before** _Earth 2_. This means that I've bracketed the show evenly with those two shots. This will allow me finally to get those temporal sights aligned on my keyboard, and next time I'll get it right on the money.

Outta here!

The Dougmeister


End file.
